“I pray that Catholic education will help everyone discover their vocation to holiness,” said Pope Leo XIV during All Saints' Day Mass celebrated in St. Peter's Square on November 1, 2025. During this liturgy, which also concluded the Jubilee of Education, the Pontiff proclaimed St. John Henry Newman (1801-1890) a “Doctor of the Church” and co-patron of Catholic schools.
Drawing on the figure of the former Anglican who converted to Catholicism, the Pope outlined the major mission of Catholic education in a world threatened by nihilism and inequality.
This morning, thousands of faithful visiting St. Peter's Square were able to see the huge portrait of Cardinal John Henry Newman displayed on the facade of the basilica. On All Saints' Day, which celebrates all those in heaven, canonized or not, Pope Leo XIV made a rare gesture at the beginning of the celebration, as the title of “Doctor of the Church” had previously been held by only 37 Catholics.
After listening to the biography of Cardinal Newman, an Anglican intellectual and priest who converted to Catholicism, the Pope pronounced these words in Latin: “We, welcoming the desire of many brothers in the episcopate and many faithful throughout the world, after consulting the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, having given careful consideration and having reached a full and certain conviction, with the fullness of apostolic authority, declare Saint John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Universal Church.”
Among the crowd that greeted this proclamation with loud applause was British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and the Anglican Archbishop of York, Stephen Geoffrey Cottrell. Until the January installation of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, Cottrell is the highest authority within the Church of England.
The Pope welcomed the presence of this delegation from the Church of England, which came a few days after the “historic meeting of prayer” in the Sistine Chapel with King Charles III, Supreme Governor of the Church of England. “From Heaven, [St. John Henry Newman] accompanies Christians on their journey towards full unity,” assured the head of the Catholic Church.
Newman, new co-patron of Catholic schools
In his homily, Leo XIV justified the date of this proclamation by recalling that November 1 marks the conclusion of the Jubilee of the World of Education this year. “Newman's imposing cultural and spiritual stature will serve as an inspiration to new generations with hearts thirsting for the infinite,” said the pontiff, also naming the British doctor co-patron of Catholic schools, alongside St. Thomas Aquinas.
The Catholic Church has the largest educational network in the world: more than 231,000 Catholic schools and universities in 171 countries, attended by nearly 72 million students. In recent days, some 20,000 people from 124 countries have participated in the Jubilee for the World of Education in Rome.
The missions of Catholic education
Throughout his homily, Pope Leo XIV outlined the mission of Catholic schools and universities, which he spoke of as “laboratories of prophecy, where hope is lived.”
“Shine today like stars in the world, thanks to the authenticity of your commitment to the common search for truth,” he began by saying to educators.
In a world dominated by pessimism, the head of the Catholic Church also urged them to work to “free humanity from the darkness of nihilism that surrounds it” and to spread “the great reasons for hope.”
For the Pope, “making hope disappear” is “undoubtedly the most dangerous evil of contemporary culture.”
Through the witness of educators, Catholic schools and universities must be “thresholds to a civilization of dialogue and peace,” he emphasized.
He also called on Catholic education to apply the Gospel by giving priority attention to the poor. “Are those who are born with fewer opportunities less valuable as human beings, must they be content with mere survival?” “ he asked, quoting Dilexi te, his first apostolic exhortation devoted to love for the poor.
"The answer we give to these questions determines the value of our societies and therefore our future," he said, adding, "The evangelical quality of our education also depends on this answer."
Helping everyone to become saints. “Nothing less.”
A little further on, the Successor of Peter also warned teachers: “At the center of educational journeys, there should not be abstract individuals, but real people, especially those who seem unable to contribute according to the parameters of an economy that excludes and kills.”
Finally, the Pope encouraged educators to reveal the “vocation to holiness” in every young person. Praying in English part of St. John Henry Newman's "Lead Kindly Light," he also quoted part of the saint's famous prayer: “I have a mission, perhaps I will not know it in this life."
Responding to today’s challenges may sometimes seem beyond our capabilities, but this is
not the case. Let us not allow pessimism to defeat us! [...] This reference to the darkness that surrounds us echoes one of Saint John Henry Newman’s best-known texts, the hymn “Lead, Kindly Light.” In that beautiful prayer, we come to realize that we are far from home, our feet are unsteady, we cannot interpret clearly the way ahead. Yet none of this impedes us, since we have found our Guide: “Lead, Kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on!”
Leo XIV concluded by summarizing the mission of Catholic education today: “We can therefore say that education, from a Christian perspective, helps everyone to become holy. Nothing less.”
