Pope criticizes positivism in education

November 23, 2015

In a conversation with educators, Pope Francis criticized the influence of positivism, called for an openness to the transcendent and the poor, and evoked the example of St. John Bosco.

“Today there is a tendency toward a neopositivism, that is, to educate in immanent things,” he said on November 21 to participants in a conference sponsored by the Congregation for Catholic Education. “Transcendence is what is wanting – for me, the greatest crisis in education, in order that it be Christian, is this closure to transcendence.”

Turning to the example of St. John Bosco, who worked with poor children in the times of the “worst Masonry” in northern Italy, Pope Francis said that “there are three languages: the language of the head, the language of the heart, and the language of the hands; education must go forward by these three ways.”

“Think about the works of mercy , the 14 works of mercy; think about how to do them, but in education,” he added.

 

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Further information:

• Audience to the Participants at the World Congress on Educating, a Renewing Passion 2015.11.21 (YouTube Vatican)
• Udienza ai partecipanti al Congresso Mondiale promosso dalla Congregazione per l’Educazione Cattolica (degli Istituti di Studi) (Roma, 18-21 novembre 2015), 21.11.2015 (Holy See Press Office)
• Pope Francis: educate openness to transcendence, practice of mercy (Vatican Radio)