Pope points to St John Henry Newman’s relevance today

Meeting the provost, fellows and members of Oriel College, from the University of Oxford, at the Vatican on September 6, the Pope praised St John Henry Newman, an alumnus of the college.

Pope Leo described the saint as 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 canonised 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 John Henry 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 the modern world and its challenges, the Pope added.

Pope Leo 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.”

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”. The college is celebrating its 700th anniversary this year.

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Pope to Oxford’s Oriel College: Seek truth, promote integral anthropology (By Devin Watkins/Vatican News)