Inauguration of the 2024-2025 Academic Year of the PUA

On the 14th October, inauguration of the Academic Year 2024-2025 of the Pontifical University Antonianum (PUA) was held in Rome, this year dedicated to the 750th anniversary of the death of St. Bonaventure. 
In the Eucharistic celebration celebrated in the Basilica of St. Anthony Lateran, Br. Massimo Fusarelli, Minister General of the OFM and Grand Chancellor of the PUA, focused on the word freedom ("The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" - 2 Cor 3:17). Freedom is the gift of Christ through his salvific act, it is the perspective from which thought is born: "Accepting the navigation of thought is an exercise of freedom and therefore of salvation received. Hence the blessing of the name of the Lord, which Psalm 112 renewed in this assembly," said Br. Massimo in his homily. 

The event at the Antonianum Auditorium, moderated by Prof. Carlos Esteban Salto Solá, OFM, Dean of the Faculty of Theology, saw the participation of Prof. Agustín Hernández Vidales, OFM, Rector of the university, Prof. Stéphane Oppes, OFM of the Faculty of Philosophy and finally Br. Massimo Fusarelli.

In his speech, Br. Massimo Fusarelli cited Pope Francis' Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium, in which the Holy Father emphasizes the importance of ecclesiastical studies in the evangelizing mission of the Church. Reaffirming the value of the PUA, the Grand Chancellor said: "We continue to need as an Order and as a Family an academic center that, in network with other centres on the different continents, makes its contribution to living this time in a critical and wise way in the light of Revelation and the Franciscan spiritual and intellectual tradition.  with a competent reading of the peculiar conditions of our time, to encounter cultures in a creative way, favoring the proclamation of the Good News and thus declining with life and thought the originality of the Franciscan charism." With reference to the ongoing Synod, he recalled how in the final document of the first session the urgency of "a theology capable of shared discernment on the so-called controversial questions" was reiterated: looking at the "frontiers" of today, not only physical, and finding theological answers to them, according to Br. Massimo. Immigration, integral ecology, war, artificial intelligence are just some "places" from which to "learn to think today with humility and patience".

In conclusion, the Minister General of the OFM underlined the importance of meeting with the forms of thought of other continents and cultures outside the West, such as Asia and Africa, also adding the need for a renewal of religious universities as requested by Pope Francis last August 30. 

The Rector Magnificent, before presenting the report on the academic year that has just ended, underlined how the beginning of this new year is also characterized by war, but that at the same time there is a Church on a synodal journey that listens to the faithful. Looking ahead to the new year, Br. Agustín announced that on the 26th November, the new "Code of Ethics of Conduct", strongly desired by the Grand Chancellor, will be presented to the students of the PUA. 

Prof. Oppes presented his report entitled "750 years after the Second Council of Lyons and the death of Bonaventure: provocations of the thought of the Seraphic Doctor". 

Download the greeting of the Minister General and Grand Chancellor of the PUA (Italian)
Download the homily of the Minister General (Italian)