The Pope receives participants in a conference organized by the Vatican Apostolic Library – Vatican News

The Pope began his speech by welcoming those present, especially Bishop Zani and the leaders and all the people who contribute to the life of this Vatican institution. He indicated that the Apostolic Library wanted to engage in dialogue with friendly institutions on a number of important topics, thus launching study meetings in the hope that they would continue in the future and expand​​​​ they enrich each other.

The Supreme Pontiff confirmed that this communication helps everyone to develop educational and cultural capacities in libraries, especially in this time in which we live today, adding that it is requested these institutions have transferred the heritage of the past to new generations, who have a strong, welcoming need. and inclusive environments that enable them to live in the present and guide them towards the future.

Then Francis stopped at the personality of the late Pope Pius At a time when culture in Europe was turning to conflicting ideologies, the Pope made the Vatican Library a safe place for many researchers, including those who were persecuted by the totalitarian regimes of that era.

The Pope went on to say that we also find before us today some cultural and social challenges, adding that technology has greatly changed the work of librarians, and that communication methods and information resources have opened up new ways which was unthinkable a few years ago. He said that this new reality has many advantages, but not without risks, because large sources of information are like rich mines, but it is difficult to check their quality.

The Supreme Pontiff pointed out that the process of managing paper archives is very expensive and that this archive is available in rich countries, while poor countries suffer from material, intellectual and cultural poverty. The Pope warned against spending on weapons, which deprives the culture of the financial resources needed for distribution.

Francis then said that many cultural institutions suffer from the violence of wars, and he stressed the need for everyone to commit to preventing the repetition of what happened in the past, asking us to arm ourselves with culture to fight the clash of civilizations, ideological colonialism, and the erasure of memory. He warned against the effect of building virtual walls in addition to the walls that separate countries. In this context, he believed that those responsible for libraries are called upon to preserve historical heritage. and work to spread knowledge, so that libraries are places of peace and tranquility. oases for free meeting and discussion.

Pope Francis continued his address to the participants in the conference organized by the Vatican Apostolic Library, focusing on four criteria proposed in the Apostolic Exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium ”: The first criterion is that time should pass through a room, so libraries must be places where there is time to think, reflect, and be open to… The spiritual and transcendental, and to promote the growth of a new humanity. The second criterion is that unity engages in conflict, adding that academic research creates differences, but that they must also be addressed in serious debate.

The third criterion, the Pope went on to say, is that truth is more important than opinion, and he believed that it was useful to pay attention to truth to grow closely with the necessary approach, so that conflict between thought and knowledge, between facts and principles, between practices and theories. The fourth and final criterion is that the whole is better than the part. In this context, the Pope pointed out that we are asked to achieve harmony between what is local and what is global, remembering that the individual is not isolated from his environment, since each is a person who has relationships with other people within a community. network, and they must participate in it wisely.

In conclusion, Pope Francis encouraged his guests not to be afraid of the complexity of the world in which we are called to work. He wanted to grow, within the environment of the library, those wise scribes that the Lord Jesus praised because they knew how to extract from the treasure new things and old things for the benefit of everyone. The Pope then gave apostolic blessings to the conference participants and asked them to pray for him and not to forget his sense of humor.