Pope Leo XIV meets with, addresses AJCU presidents in Rome

President Kimo Ah Yun and his wife, Catherine Puckering, are in Italy this week as part of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Presidents Pilgrimage.

On Thursday, the AJCU delegation participated in a general audience with His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV, and presented a gift on behalf of Jesuit colleges and universities in North America.

In his address to AJCU leaders, Pope Leo XIV emphasized the critical role Jesuit higher education plays in addressing the world's most pressing challenges. Reflecting on what he described as an "age of epochal change," the Pope pointed to growing secularization, widening inequality, environmental degradation and the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence as defining issues facing society today.

He encouraged Jesuit institutions to draw on the Society of Jesus' Universal Apostolic Preferences - including accompanying young people, walking with those who are marginalized and caring for our common home - as a framework for education, research and service.

Pope Leo also underscored the importance of forming students in both intellectual inquiry and spiritual discernment, noting that the pursuit of truth ultimately leads to a deeper encounter with God. Coverage from Vatican News highlighted the Pope's call for universities to be "powerful channels" for promoting solidarity and the common good.