Jesuits West

Pope Leo XIV is encouraging Jesuit universities like Gonzaga University to work together.

Gonzaga President Katia Passerini and 18 other presidents of Jesuit colleges in North America got that message along with the pope’s advice on technology and other issues in person late last month.

“Our mission is education and making sure that we empower the human development of the next generation, but we do that with a focus on our faith,” Passerini said in an interview this week. “Especially in Jesuit education, educating is about paying attention to intellectual development and spiritual, ethical, social and physical development.”

Passerini, who is native to Rome and a life-long Catholic, said the trip was quick and meaningful. The late June meeting was coordinated by the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities in partnership with the association’s board of directors.

In his address to the group, the pope detailed “the multitude of challenges facing humanity today,” including increasing secularization, political ostracization of the poor, migrant or “outcast,” hopelessness, environmental degradation and development of artificial intelligence.

From their position of educational influence, he encouraged the presidents to provide their students with ample opportunity to combat these challenges on campus.

“With the help of the prayers of St. Ignatius of Loyola, may you continue the Jesuit tradition of forming those entrusted to your care to be ‘men and women for others,’ ” he said, per a transcription of his address. “I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing to each of you, which I willingly extend to your loved ones and to the communities of the institutions that you represent.”

Read more: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/jul/09/gonzaga-president-talks-about-meeting-the-pope-tou/