ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV
“León XIV” Campus of the National University (Malabo)
Tuesday, 21 April 2026
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Distinguished Rector,
Esteemed Authorities,
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
I thank you for your invitation to this event, in which a new campus of the National University of Equatorial Guinea is inaugurated. In expressing my gratitude for the kind gesture of naming the campus after me, I am aware that such a decision goes beyond the person being honored as it reflects the values that we all want to pass on to others.
The inauguration of a university campus is more than a mere administrative act. It transcends the simple expansion of infrastructure and places for study.
This inauguration is an act of trust in human beings, an affirmation of the fact that it is worth the effort to continue wagering on the formation of new generations and on the task, so demanding and yet so noble, of seeking the truth and putting knowledge at the service of the common good.
Therefore, this moment assumes an importance that goes well beyond the material confines of places and buildings. Today a space for hope, encounter and progress is opened. Indeed, every authentic academic effort is one that grows not only structurally, but also as a living organism.
Perhaps for this reason, the image of a tree is particularly eloquent for speaking of the university’s mission. For the people of Equatorial Guinea, the ceiba, the national tree, has a great symbolic meaning.
A tree puts forth deep roots, and ascends slowly with patience and strength to the heights, embodying in itself a fruitfulness that does not exist for itself.
In its greatness, in the sturdiness of its trunk and in the abundance of its branches, this tree seems to offer a parable of that which a university is called to be: an institution well rooted in the seriousness of study, in the living memory of a people and in the persevering search for truth.
Only in this way will it be able to grow strong; only in this way will it be capable of bettering itself without losing contact with the historical circumstances in which it is situated.
And, in addition to providing the means for professional success, it will be able to offer to future new generations a purpose in life, criteria for discernment and motives for serving.
The history of humanity can also be read through the symbolism of some biblical trees. In the garden of the Book of Genesis, near the tree of life, stood the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (cf. Gen 2:9), whose fruit God commanded the man and woman not to eat.
It should be emphasized that this story is not about a condemnation of knowledge as such, as if faith was afraid of intelligence or looked with suspicion upon the desire for knowledge. Human beings have received the capability to know, to name, to discern, to marvel at the world and to wonder at its meaning (cf. Gen 2:19).
The problem, therefore, does not rest with knowledge but in its deviation towards an intelligence that no longer seeks to correspond to reality, but rather to twist it for its own purposes, evaluating it according to the benefit of the one who demands to know.
Here knowledge ceases to be an opening and becomes instead a possession; it ceases to be the path towards wisdom and is transformed into a prideful affirmation of self-sufficiency, opening the road to confusion, which can eventually become inhumane.
Nevertheless, the biblical story does not finish with that tree. Christian tradition contemplates another tree, that of the Cross, not as a denial of human intelligence, but as a sign of its redemption (cf. Col 2:2-3).
If in Genesis we find the temptation to seek knowledge separated from truth and goodness, on the cross we find a truth revealed, Jesus Christ, who far from imposing his own will, offers himself through love and elevates us to the dignity with which we were conceived from the beginning.
At the cross, human beings are invited to allow their desire for knowledge to be healed: to rediscover that truth is not fabricated, not manipulated nor possessed like a trophy, but welcomed, sought with humility and served with responsibility.
For this reason, from a Christian perspective, Christ does not appear as a religious escape in the face of intellectual endeavors, as if faith began where reason ended. On the contrary, in him the profound harmony between truth, reason and freedom are manifested.
Truth presents itself as a reality that precedes human beings, challenges them and calls them to come out of themselves. This is why truth can be sought with trust. Faith, far from shutting itself off from this search, purifies it of self-sufficiency and opens it to a fullness towards which reason strives, even if it cannot completely embrace it.
In this way, the tree of the Cross restores the original purpose for love of knowledge. It teaches us that knowing means being open to truth, understanding both what it means and the mystery contained therein.
Thus, the search for truth remains truly human: humble, serious and open to a truth that precedes us, calls us and transcends us.
Indeed, it is not enough for a tree to bear fruit: the quality of the fruit also matters, because by its fruits the tree will be known (cf. Mt 7:20). In the same way, a university measures itself by the quality of the students it offers for the life of the community more than by the number of graduates or the expansion of its infrastructure.
This is the sincere desire that the Church expresses in her centuries-old commitment to the field of education: that new generations are formed in an integral way, rather than giving the mere appearance of success. The results will not be long in coming.
Dear brothers and sisters, here on this campus, the ceiba of Equatorial Guinea is called to bear fruits of progress rooted in solidarity and of a knowledge that ennobles and develops the human being in an integral way. It is called to offer the fruits of intelligence and uprightness, of competence and wisdom, of excellence and service.
If generations of men and women are profoundly shaped in this place by truth and are capable of transforming their own existence into a gift for others, then the ceiba will remain an eloquent symbol rooted in the best things of this land, elevated by wisdom and abounding in fruits that pay tribute to Equatorial Guinea and enrich the entire human family.
With these sentiments, I invoke upon each one of you –– upon the authorities, teachers, students and staff of this University and upon your families –– an abundance of the blessings of Almighty God who, in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word, has shown men and women the truth about themselves and their true dignity (cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes,, 22).
I entrust all of you to the maternal protection of Mary most holy, Seat of Wisdom, so that these fruits, in addition to being abundant, may also be very good. Thank you very much!