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Pope to Oxford’s Oriel College: Seek truth, promote integral anthropology
Pope Leo XIV meets with members of the Oriel College of Oxford University, and invites them to look to St. John Henry Newman as an example of the inseparability of faith and reason.
By Devin Watkins
Pope Leo XIV met on Friday with the Provost, Fellows, and members of Oriel College, as the constituent college of the University of Oxford celebrates its 700th anniversary.
Founded in 1326 under the patronage of King Edward II, Oriel College’s title is formally “the House of the Blessed Mary the Virgin in Oxford.” It boasts among its alumni St. John Henry Newman, as well as two Nobel laureates.
In his address, the Pope recalled the College’s “long and illustrious” history, and praised it for maintaining its Christian identity throughout many changes and upheavals over time.
“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,” he said.
Pope Leo XIV then upheld the witness of St. Newman, calling him 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 English Cardinal was canonized by Pope Francis in October 2019 and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIV in 2025, who named him co-patron of Catholic education, along with St. Thomas Aquinas.
“There was a great concreteness to his ideas,” said Pope Leo, “since his religious convictions were rooted in his personal relationship with God, while his scholarship was both sublime and eminently practical.”
The Pope urged Oriel College to emulate St. Newman’s vision of 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.”
These aspects of his teaching are particularly relevant in our modern world and its challenges, he added.
Pope Leo XIV concluded by inviting the College’s academicians to “seek the truth courageously and to promote this integral anthropological vision.”
“As a result,” he said, “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.”
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