In his meeting with young university professors(El Escorial, August 19, 2011), Benedict XVI recalled his years as a professor at the University of Bonn, when, despite the status shortage, "everything was replaced by the enthusiasm for an exciting activity, the attention with colleagues from different disciplines, and the desire to respond to the ultimate and fundamental concerns of the students.

Illusion, multidisciplinarity, research. From there arose the meaning and definition of the university:"Universitas of professors and students who together seek the truth in all knowledge", or as Alfonso X the Wise said, that "town hall of teachers and students with the will and understanding to learn knowledge"(Siete Partidas, partida II, tít. XXXI).

The being and work of the university - the Pope pointed out - cannot be reduced to a mere technical training , with a utilitarian vision of the Education driven by immediate pragmatism, because this leads to dramatic losses: "From the abuses of a science without limits, beyond itself, to the political totalitarianism that is easily fanned when every reference letter higher than the mere calculation of power is eliminated"; likewise - he would later add - such a vision can lead to ideologies closed to reason, and lead to the servility of "a utilitarian logic of simple market, which sees man as a mere consumer".

On the contrary, "the University has always been, and is called to be, the house where the truth proper to the human person is sought". Christian faith in Christ as logos by whom all things were made (cf. Jn 1:3) illuminates and enlivens the university's being and work . "This good news discovers a rationality in everything created and contemplates man as a creature who participates in and can come to recognize that rationality."

The task of the Catholic university professor implies the ideal of "proposing and accrediting the faith before the intelligence of men". How can this be taken to internship? "The way to do this is not only to teach it, but to live it, to incarnate it, just as the Logos became incarnate to make his dwelling among us". (That is to say, to develop this process personally in order to be able to transmit it to others).
"In this sense," the Pope specifies, "young people need authentic teachers; people open to the total truth in the different branches of knowledge, knowing how to listen and living within themselves this interdisciplinary dialogue; people convinced, above all, of the human capacity to advance on the path to the truth.

 In this way they will be able to transmit this ideal (to seek and find the truth) to the students. To this purpose he quoted Plato: "Seek the truth while you are young, for if you do not, it will slip through your fingers"(Parmenides, 135d). And Benedict XVI added: "This high aspiration is the most valuable that you can transmit staff and vitally to your students, and not simply some instrumental and anonymous techniques, or some cold data , used only functionally".

Therefore, the Pope continued, "I strongly encourage you never to lose this sensitivity and enthusiasm for the truth; never forget that teaching is not a simple communication of content, but a training of young people whom you must understand and love, in whom you must awaken that thirst for truth that they possess deep down and that eagerness to excel. Be for them a stimulus and strength".
Finally, he specified two aspects for this task: the unity between knowledge and love, and the transcendence of truth united to humility.

In the first place, "the way to the complete truth also involves the whole human being: it is a way of intelligence and love, of reason and faith. We cannot advance in the knowledge of something if we are not moved by love; nor can we love something in which we do not see rationality: for 'there is no such thing as intelligence and then love: there is love rich in intelligence and intelligence full of love'(Caritas in veritate, n. 30). If truth and good are united, so are knowledge and love". And he observed: "From this unity derives the coherence of life and thought, the exemplarity required of every good educator".

Secondly, "truth itself will always be beyond our reach. We can seek it and approach it, but we cannot possess it entirely: rather, it is it that possesses us and motivates us."

And he concluded: for this reason, especially in the intellectual exercise and professor, "humility is also an indispensable virtue, which protects against the vanity that closes access to the truth". A consequence: "We must not attract students to ourselves, but lead them towards that truth that we all seek". This can be achieved with the financial aid of Christ, Truth and Way, "who proposes to you to be simple and effective as salt, or as a lamp, which gives light without making a noise (cf. Mt 5:13-15).

At final: to seek and encourage the search for truth without reductionism, promote the rationality proper to wisdom, to make the faith credible by living it (not only by teaching it), and to unite knowledge and love on the basis of humility. This is the task of a Christian university professor. Commitment to the truth requires coherence of life, and this coherence comes from its real union with charity. Benedict XVI's speech does not deal with mere concepts. It calls for a rediscovery of the existential cores of the university task and, consequently, a revision of personal attitudes and of the facts that make it possible.