On the 60th anniversary of the Conciliar Declaration Gravissimum Educationis, Pope Leo XIV has released an Apostolic Letter, Drawing New Maps of Hope. Following his Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te and his Message for World Youth Day (November 23, 2025), this new document offers a bold reimagining of Catholic education as a transformative force in today’s world.
Structured in eleven thematic sections, the letter unfolds a comprehensive vision: • Preamble • A Dynamic History • A Living Tradition • The Compass of Gravissimum Educationis • The Centrality of the Person • Identity and Subsidiarity • The Contemplation of Creation • An Educational Constellation • Navigating New Spaces • The Lodestar of the Global Compact on Education • New Maps of Hope. Together, these sections form a cohesive framework for understanding the Church’s renewed educational mission.
What Are the New Maps of Hope?
Pope Leo XIV describes Catholic education as a prophetic response to today’s challenges: In the final section of the letter, the Holy Father writes: “We are aware of the difficulties: hyper-digitalization can fragment attention, the crisis of relationship can wound the psyche; social insecurity and inequalities can extinguish desire. Yet precisely here, Catholic education can be a beacon: not a nostalgic refuge, but a laboratory of discernment, pedagogical innovation and prophetic witness. Drawing new maps of hope; this is the urgency of the mandate.”
To guide this new cartography, Pope Leo proposes three educational priorities:
- The Inner Life Young people seek depth. Education must offer spaces for silence, discernment, and dialogue with conscience and with God.
- The Digital Human Technology and AI must serve the person. Education should harmonize technical, emotional, social, spiritual, and ecological intelligence—placing humanity before algorithms.
- Unarmed and Disarming Peace Education must teach nonviolence, reconciliation, and bridge-building. “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Mt 5:9) becomes both method and content.
A Global Constellation of Hope
Catholic education is portrayed as a constellation—parish schools, universities, training centers, digital platforms, and pastoral programs. Each institution is a star with its own brightness, yet together they chart a unified course toward renewal.
Echoing Gravissimum Educationis, Pope Leo reminds us that education is not auxiliary to evangelization—it is its very fabric. It is how the Gospel becomes a culture, a relationship, and a gesture of hope. As he recalled in his Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te: “Education is one of the highest expressions of Christian charity. For the Church, faith in the education of the poor is not a favour but a duty.”
A Mandate of Mercy and Meaning
Drawing New Maps of Hope is more than a letter—it is a mandate. Pope Leo XIV calls educators, families, and institutions to reconstitute knowledge and meaning, competence and responsibility, faith and life. In a world longing for direction, Catholic education must become the compass. Catholic education has the task of rebuilding trust in a world riven with conflicts and fears. The Catholic school is an environment in which faith, culture, and life intertwine. Catholic schools collaborate with parents.
“Catholic education cannot be silent: it must combine social justice and environmental justice, promote sobriety and sustainable lifestyles, and form consciences capable of choosing not merely what is convenient, but what is just. An education in unarmed and disarming peace teaches us to set down the weapons of the aggressive word and the judgmental look, in order to learn the language of mercy and reconciled justice.”
