Acta Benedicti Pp. XVI 707

bution to other cultures, while remaining open to the contribution of other

peoples.

Dear friends, it is my hope that universities will increasingly become

communities committed to the tireless pursuit of truth, "laboratories of cul-

ture" where teachers and students join in exploring issues of particular im-

portance for society, employing interdisciplinary methods and counting on

the collaboration of theologians. This can easily be done in Europe, given the

presence of so many prestigious Catholic institutions and faculties of theol-

ogy. I am convinced that greater cooperation and new forms of fellowship

between the various academic communities will enable Catholic universities

to bear witness to the historical fruitfulness of the encounter between faith

and reason. The result will be a concrete contribution to the attainment of

the goals of the Bologna Process, and an incentive for developing a suitable

university apostolate in the local Churches. Effective support for these ef-

forts, which have been increasingly a concern of the European Episcopal

Conferences,3 can come from those ecclesial associations and movements al-

ready engaged in the university apostolate.

Dear friends, may your deliberations during these days prove fruitful and

help to build an active network of university instructors committed to bring-

ing the light of the Gospel to contemporary culture. I assure you and your

families of a special remembrance in my prayers, and I invoke upon you, and

the universities in which you work, the maternal protection of Mary, Seat of

Wisdom. To each of you I affectionately impart my Apostolic Blessing.

IX

In visitatione Bibliothecae Apostolicae Vaticanae et Tabularii Secreti Vaticani.*

Signori Cardinali,

Venerati Fratelli nell'Episcopato e nel Sacerdozio,

cari fratelli e sorelle!

Ho accolto con gioia l'invito rivoltomi dal Signor Cardinale Jean-Louis

Tauran, Archivista e Bibliotecario di Santa Romana Chiesa, a visitare la

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana e l'Archivio Segreto Vaticano. Ambedue que-

3 Cf. Ecclesia in Europa, 58-59.

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* Die 25 Iunii 2007.