Leo also addressed artificial intelligence and invited the students to be pioneers of \u201ca new humanism in the context of the digital revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
YAOUNDE, Cameroon \u2014 Pope Leo XIV on Friday encouraged Catholic university students in Cameroon to let their study be informed by \u201cthe light of faith, joined to the truth of love\u201d as St. John Henry Newman taught.<\/p>\n
\u201cProfessors and students are called to embrace as both their aim and their way of life the common search for truth, for, as St. John Henry Newman wrote, \u2018All true principles run over with God, all phenomena converge to him,\u2019\u201d the pope said during an encounter at the Catholic Academic Institution of Central Africa (UCAC) in Yaound\u00e9, Cameroon\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n
UCAC, founded following an agreement between the Holy See and the Republic of Cameroon in 1989, serves more than 2,000 students from the six countries of central Africa: Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and Chad.<\/p>\n
To mark the pope\u2019s visit April 17, the university inaugurated a square on campus, naming it after St. Augustine in honor of Leo.<\/p>\n
Plans are also underway for the construction of a university hospital dedicated to the pope: It will become the Leo XIV Catholic University Center.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV addresses students, faculty, and others during a visit to the Catholic Academic Institution of Central Africa (UCAC) in Yaound\u00e9, Cameroon, on April 17, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media<\/p>\n
Upon Pope Leo XIV\u2019s arrival, songs of joy and jubilation filled the air. A celebration of music and chanting erupted as the pope arrived at the campus, where many of the young people were wearing yellow and green T-shirts, the colors of Cameroon. Authorities say 8,000 people were in attendance.<\/p>\n
In his address, the pontiff responded to the concerns of many young people, emphasizing that universities \u2014 Catholic universities in particular \u2014 can become \u201ctrue communities of life and research,\u201d introducing \u201cstudents and professors alike to a fraternity in knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through knowledge \u2014 which above all means dialogue \u2014 it becomes possible to set aside individualism, superficiality, and hypocrisy: \u201cThe university stands out as a privileged place of friendship, cooperation, and, at the same time, of interiority and reflection,\u201d Leo underscored.<\/p>\n
What makes a university truly significant, he recalled, is the shared search for truth. Quoting from Pope Francis\u2019 encyclical Lumen Fidei, he said, faith, in this way, succeeds in \u201cilluminating\u201d the gaze of science: \u201cFaith encourages the scientist to remain constantly open to reality in all its inexhaustible richness. Faith awakens the critical sense by preventing research from being satisfied with its own formulae and helps it to realize that nature is always greater.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking about the African continent, he added: “Today, moreover, there is an urgent need to think about faith within the framework of contemporary cultural contexts and present challenges, so that its beauty and credibility may emerge in diverse settings, especially in those most marked by injustice, inequality, conflict, and both material and spiritual degradation.\u201d<\/p>\n
AI and a new humanism<\/p>\n
\u201cChristians, and especially young African Catholics, must not be afraid of \u2018new things,\u2019\u201d the pope said, a reference to Pope Leo XIII\u2019s encyclical Rerum Novarum.<\/p>\n
He invited African youth to become pioneers of \u201ca new humanism in the context of the digital revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the African continent is well acquainted with its alluring aspects, it also knows the darker side of the environmental and social devastation caused by the relentless pursuit of raw materials and rare earths,\u201d Leo said. \u201cDo not look the other way: This is a service to the truth and to all humanity. Without this demanding educational effort, passive adaptation to dominant paradigms will be mistaken for competence, and the loss of freedom for progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the spread of artificial intelligence systems, \u201clike every great historical transformation,\u201d call for not only \u201ctechnical competence but also for a humanistic formation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV addresses students, faculty, and others during a visit to the Catholic Academic Institution of Central Africa (UCAC) in Yaound\u00e9, Cameroon, on April 17, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media<\/p>\n
He warned against superficial misunderstandings of this new digital tool: \u201cWhen simulation becomes the norm, it weakens the human capacity for discernment. As a result, our social bonds close in upon themselves, forming self-referential circuits that no longer expose us to reality. We thus come to live within bubbles, impermeable to one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFeeling threatened by anyone who is different, we grow unaccustomed to encounter and dialogue,\u201d he said. \u201cIn this way, polarization, conflict, fear, and violence spread. What is at stake is not merely the risk of error but a transformation in our very relationship with truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hence, he invited Catholic universities to \u201cassume a responsibility of the highest order. For it does not merely transmit specialized knowledge but shapes minds capable of discernment and hearts ready for love and service.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the many challenges facing Cameroon is the \u201cunderstandable tendency to migrate \u2014 which may lead one to believe that elsewhere a better future may be more easily found,\u201d the pope said.<\/p>\n
The Holy Father instead invited young people \u201cto respond with an ardent desire to serve your country and to apply the knowledge you are acquiring here to the benefit of your fellow citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n
This, he said, is the very reason for the existence of a major African university like the one he is visiting today.<\/p>\n
Addressing the university\u2019s faculty and leadership, he said: \u201cSpiritual and human accompaniment constitutes an essential dimension of the identity of the Catholic university.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever our role or our age, we must always remember that we are all disciples \u2014 that is, fellow learners with one Teacher, who so loved the world that he gave his life,\u201d the pope concluded.<\/p>\n
This story\u00a0was first published\u00a0by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.<\/p>\n