Celebrate your Catholic origins and follow Newman’s example, Pope tells Oriel College designation

September 05, 2026

Pope Leo XIV received a delegation from Oriel College on September 4 and encouraged the delegation’s members to celebrate the college’s Catholic origins and to follow the example of St. John Henry Newman (1801-1890).

Oriel College, founded by King Edward II in 1326, is the fifth oldest of the University of Oxford’s 39 colleges. Newman was appointed a tutor at the college in 1826.

Pope Leo described the college’s 700th anniversary as an “opportunity to celebrate its Catholic origins as the ‘College of the Blessed Virgin Mary.’ Indeed, this identity is key to what has made and can continue to make Oriel not just an academic institution, but a true community of faith and scholarship in its deepest meaning.”

St. John Henry Newman “stands as a shining example of a scholar who not only showed the inseparability of faith and reason in his works but even more admirably in his life,” the Pope continued. “There was a great concreteness to his ideas, since his religious convictions were rooted in his personal relationship with God, while his scholarship was both sublime and eminently practical. The profound depths of both dimensions of his life were recognized in his Declaration as a Doctor of the universal Church and co-patron of the Church’s education mission.”

Pope Leo added:

In the context of today’s challenges, Newman’s own thought on education is particularly relevant, for he proposes a Christian formation that embraces the entire person and measures the value of education according to human dignity, justice and the capacity to serve the common good. In your personal academic endeavors, I similarly encourage you to seek the truth courageously and to promote this integral anthropological vision. As a result, your work can genuinely facilitate a “heart to heart” encounter with your brothers and sisters, and especially with our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life (cf. Jn 14:6).

Finally, in his famous hymn “Lead, Kindly Light,” Newman showed his great trust that God would guide him despite the uncertainties of life. I urge you, then, to entrust yourselves and the future of the College to the unfading Light of the world, so that you too, like Our Lady, may reflect his glory to the world.

 

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Further information:

• Delegation from Oriel College, University of Oxford (Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Media, 9/4/26)
• Per una formazione cristiana orientata a giustizia, verità e dignità (L'Osservatore Romano, 9/4/26)