ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV
“Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo” Catholic University (Chiclayo)
Friday, 13 November 2026
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Brothers in the Episcopate,
Distinguished academic authorities,
Dr Patricia Campos, Vice-Chancellor of the University,
Respected political and civil authorities,
Esteemed professors, researchers and other administrative staff,
Dear students,
It is a great joy for me to return to Chiclayo and to meet with you here in the auditorium of USAT (the “Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo” Catholic University). I first thank the Lord, the God of life, for the years that he allowed me to spend on mission in the service of the Peruvian people. I also thank all of you, because during my years as Grand Chancellor of this institution, you helped me to understand that authority means service, that governance requires listening, and that education is a noble act of hope.
This gathering invites us to recall the enduring legacy of the patron saint of this university, Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo, a renowned jurist and Archbishop of Lima, whose life was a shining example of wisdom, charity and justice. The faith he preached and the knowledge he taught must continue to be the compass that guides research in these classrooms. A university — in particular a Catholic university — is a living community where the search for truth becomes an act of love and service to the great human family (cf. Saint John Paul II, Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, 1-2). With you, young people, as the protagonists, the quality of academic education is measured above all by its ability to shape you into wise, honest and mature women and men.
As you know, the world is undergoing complex cultural changes. In this context, the university is called to be a training ground for talent and a laboratory of meaning, a place where intelligence does not bow to utility, but rather serves the truth faithfully. Above all, it is called to serve Truth — with a capital “T” — who is Christ, the Savior of the world. In this way, the Catholic university works to foster the fruitful encounter between faith and reason, and between religion and science, by engaging in humble dialogue, conducting rigorous inquiry and always seeking the common good. This academic approach frees us from the temptation to produce only a skilled workforce for an exclusive and highly competitive market.
A progress that is indifferent to justice and the dignity of workers becomes, in fact, a mechanism of oppression and exclusion. The Catholic university therefore has a duty to remind the public and political spheres that science without a conscience ruins everyone’s life. In the same way, technology without a soul does not truly improve life. A humanistic and Christian education, however, sustains our ability to forge lasting fraternal relationships, so that we may navigate the digital age by moving beyond mere connection toward authentic relationships that foster communion. Dear friends, technology is not always neutral. At times, its forms bear the imprint, interests and ambitions of those who design and control it. For this reason, it must be studied with a clear mind and a pure heart.
The most deadly risk is that of submission to the technocratic paradigm, which reduces reality to material data, considering efficiency to be the supreme value. Both professors and students are called to exercise critical thinking, and I encourage you always to seek that wisdom which neither machines nor computer programs can possess. Only in this way will technological progress be at the service of our integral development, safeguarding the dignity of every person and promoting the common good.
Faced with this mission, the example of Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo lights the way for us. In his time, when indigenous peoples were often subjected to exploitation and discrimination, he defended their human dignity with evangelical fervor. Saint Turibius learned the languages of the people he served, proclaiming the Gospel in their culture and writing a catechism for them, which was one of the first in the Americas to be written in indigenous languages. His pastoral work bears witness to how the logic of the Incarnation continues to bear fruit in every time and place through the Church’s mission. Saint Turibius’ great cultural work in this part of the world continues to inspire us. Indeed, today the deserts are not only the arid expanses of Lambayeque, which that holy shepherd crossed on horseback, but they are the new forms of moral and civic illiteracy that exclude the poor. A university modeled on his example is called to use scientific innovation to bridge social divides and heal society’s wounds.
Thus, dear professors and students, we now turn to reflect on a central issue in contemporary thought: the human limit — that is, the human being as limit. Today, the promises of transhumanism and posthumanism are multiplying. These are ideological currents according to which, sooner or later, technology will eliminate all disease and pain, as well as aging and even death itself. Precisely because scientific progress is a supreme achievement of human intelligence, it must not be confused with a privilege reserved for millionaires seeking immortality, while entire peoples suffer from poverty and oppression. In the face of this mirage, which promotes the illusion of human beings perfected by cybernetics and biotechnology, Christian anthropology reminds us that a limitation is not a manufacturing defect, but rather the very condition of human grandeur.
Indeed, limitations call us to solidarity and openness to the transcendent. While the myth of self-sufficiency traps us in selfishness and leads us to cast aside the weak, recognizing our fragility makes us attentive to the needs of all. Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo experienced physical limits during his grueling journeys; he fell ill, suffered from exhaustion and faced the misunderstanding of the powerful. Moreover, it was precisely through a life so sorely tested that he transformed the ecclesial and social history of an entire country. Today it is up to us to follow his example!
Dear young students, you are the “natives” of this new era. Embrace the opportunities it offers you. Contemplate them in the light of faith, which is a bright beacon in the confusion and darkness of loneliness, boredom and pain. Angela has told us this with great sincerity, showing that faith always gives hope. For it does not deceive like magic, which claims to make every problem disappear. A living relationship with God comforts us, giving meaning to our crosses, which the Lord Jesus carries with us. This is the way to live out faith as a virtue — that is, as a force that gives wisdom and strength, leading us to what is essential, as Adriano explained. Both prayer and study transform our minds to the point of changing our lives. Accepting the truth, then, becomes a conscious effort, and whether through prayer or study, reflection turns into action. Both become an opportunity to seek and discover joy at every stage of life.
In this regard, Professor Guzmán has shared with us a word that is full of meaning: sacrifice. In everyday language, this term implies renunciation, but above all it means to make sacred, and therefore it is a gesture through which our entire existence — even that which the world discards — acquires value. United with the sacrifice of Christ, who reveals the true meaning of this experience, let us open our lives, with all their struggles and hopes, to God’s work. He always transforms into good whatever we place in his fatherly hands.
Dear professors and academic leaders, I encourage you to discover, with wonder and passion, that your work is a lofty expression of intellectual charity. As you accompany these young people in their classes and research, offer each one a consistent witness through your lives. Be free thinkers, for whom truth takes precedence over opinion, and justice over self-interest. Together with your students, tenaciously seek wisdom so that you may share it in your daily lives, among your colleagues and within Peruvian society. As you cultivate your scientific expertise, translate it into works of social justice, especially for the benefit of the poorest, and in the care of creation, which today is so wounded by profiteering that disregards the common good.
Dear friends, I encourage you to move forward with renewed vigor in your educational endeavors. For this reason, I entrust you and your work to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Sedes Sapientiae. May she, who welcomed the eternal Word into her womb, teach you to journey through this time with courage and faith. May God bless you always!
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Impromptu Greeting to the Volunteers at the “Colegio de San Toribio de Mogrovejo”
Thank you very much!
There is just one thing I would like to say to you, and that is “thank you, thank you, thank you” for everything you are doing. You have given of your time and energy, and some of you have made great sacrifices to help organize this visit, alongside many other volunteers and so many other people, so that I could make this visit.
Thank you, you are all wonderful. A round of applause for all of you. Jesus came to teach us many things, but one of the most important is precisely to learn to serve, to give one’s life in service to others. Not to think only of oneself, but to seek ways to put the gifts each of us has received at the service of others. Over the last few days, perhaps under conditions that have not been so easy, you have given of your time and your efforts to help – to help a great deal. So please know that you are in my prayers. In that sense, you are truly at the heart of the Church, and the service you are rendering is great and very important.
I would like to invite you all to stand up, and we will pray.
I shall give you my blessing and then I shall come around to take some photographs. Please remain where you are.
Prayer is always very important for every Christian. Let us pray together as Jesus has taught us.
Our Father…
And to Mary, our Mother, let us say:
Hail Mary…
[Apostolic Blessing]
Thank you very much!