Inspired by Pope Leo XIV’s Apostolic Letter “Drawing New Maps of Hope”, several organisations of the Catholic Church, including the Dicastery for Culture and Education, the International Office for Catholic Education (OIEC), the Union of Superiors General (USG) and the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), have proposed a new resource for the dissemination and adoption of the 10 objectives of the Global Education Pact, originally proposed by Pope Francis and relaunched by Pope Leo XIV.
It takes the form of a booklet or leaflet, designed to raise awareness and inviting people to “bring the Compact to life and build it together from each of the specific settings in which we find ourselves: the classroom, the school, the neighbourhood, the city or the region, with the conviction that this Compact becomes the guiding star of our educational mission”, comments Br. Juan Antonio Ojeda, who belongs to the Arlep District (La Salle in Spain and Portugal) and is a consultant to the Dicastery for Culture and Education
The booklet includes 10 posters based on the allegory of the star – in the form of a “constellation” –, illustrated by Patxi Velasco, known as “FANO”, from which various activities related to each of the Compact’s objectives are proposed.
“The drawings of the stars in this new constellation are self-explanatory, although some clues are provided to help unravel all that they contain”, explains Br. Juan Antonio, adding that “this is a versatile resource that we can use in different settings and with different groups (students, teachers, families, citizens…), with the aim of promoting, raising awareness of, and rallying support to build this Glocal Educational Pact”.
In this regard, the Lasallian religious continues, “the proposed activities are suggestions depending on the type of meeting and those invited to it, as the most appropriate and relevant activities can be selected and adapted”.
Each of the Pact’s objectives is identified by a verb that invites commitment and is expressed through an illustration:
- To make human persons the centre: Humanise.
- To listen to the younger generations: Listen.
- To encourage the participation of women, their rights and dignity: Encourage
- To strengthen the family: Empower.
- To be open to welcoming (the most vulnerable and marginalised): Welcome.
- To find a new way of understanding the economy and politics: Commit.
- To safeguard or our Common Home: Safeguard
- To nurture the inner life: Be.
- To create a more humane digital world: To uplift
- To build peace: Build
“May we all succeed in widely disseminating and inviting others to weave the Pact together, reaching out to the various educational and social sectors surrounding the educational institutions in which we find ourselves, so that we may contribute to changing and improving education at all stages of life, and achieve a more humane, fraternal, supportive, just, peaceful and sustainable world”, concludes Br. Juan Antonio Ojeda.