SA国际传媒

By Linda Bordoni

Pope Francis has urged Chile鈥檚 intellectuals and academics to sensitize the nation as to the importance of showing special care and respect for indigenous communities and their cultural traditions.

Addressing over 1,000 top Chilean academics at the in Santiago, Pope Francis underscored the responsibility of educators in creating the conditions for peaceful coexistence in the country.

Dialgoue and consciousness at the basis of peace

At the conclusion of a day spent mostly in the southern Araucania region, the contested homeland of the indigenous Mapuche peoples where  centuries-old conflicts have resulted in grave human rights violations and abuse, Pope Francis said indigenous peoples are 鈥渘ot merely one minority among others, but should be the principal dialogue partners, especially when large projects affecting their land are proposed鈥�.

Peaceful coexistence as a nation

He told university professors and intellectuals that the accelerated pace and sense of disorientation before new processes and changes in societies call for new educational processes that are transformative, inclusive and that favour encounter and coexistence.

This process, he said, requires an education that 鈥漣ntegrates and harmonizes intellect (the head), affections (the heart) and activity (the hands)鈥�. 

Such an approach, the Pope explained, will offer students a growth that is harmonious not only at the personal level, but also at the level of society and will prevent fragmentation and social breakdown.

Consciousness of the importance of public life

The Pope dedicated much attention to what he referred to as 鈥渢his 鈥榣iquid鈥� society or 鈥榮ociety of lightness鈥� in which, he said, the new meeting place seems to be the 鈥渃loud鈥� where 鈥渆verything evaporates and thus loses consistency鈥� which may be one of the reasons for the loss of a consciousness of the importance of public life.

鈥淲ithout that consciousness it is very difficult to build the nation鈥� he said, because the only thing that appears to be important and valid is what pertains to the individual.

And calling for a culture that cherishes memory and the bonds that support it, Francis said a nation that lacks the consciousness of the importance of public life 鈥渨ill be not only increasingly fragmented, but also more conflictual and violent鈥�.

Educators challenged to prevent fragmentation

So, stressing the need to progress as community, the Pope said the university is challenged to generate new processes that can overcome fragmentation and provide new forms of inclusivity.

He said knowledge must lead to 鈥渁n interplay between the university classroom and the wisdom of the peoples who make up this richly blessed land鈥�.

Knowledge at the service of life

And pointing out that knowledge must always sense that it is at the service of life, the Pope said the educational community cannot be reduced to classrooms and libraries but must be continually challenged to participation.

Francis also recalled an ancient cabalistic tradition according to which evil originated in the rift produced by man who ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thus allowing knowledge to gain the upper hand over creation, subjecting it to its own designs and desires .

鈥淭his, he said, will always be a subtle temptation in every academic setting: to reduce creation to certain interpretative models that deprive it of the very Mystery that has moved whole generations to seek what is just, good, beautiful and true鈥�.

A true 鈥減rofessor鈥�, he said, must be capable of awakening wonderment in his students: 鈥淲onderment at the world and at an entire universe waiting to be discovered!鈥�

A prophetic mission

And reminding those present that the mission entrusted to them is prophetic as they are challenged to generate processes that enlighten contemporary culture, Pope Francis urged them to 鈥渟eek out ever new spaces for dialogue rather than confrontation, spaces of encounter rather than division, paths of friendly disagreement that allow for respectful differences between persons joined in a sincere effort to advance as a community towards a renewed national coexistence鈥�.