Patriarch of Venice inaugurates learning center

Rome, Italy, Apr 29, 2004 / 22:00 pm

Cardinal Angelo Scola, the Patriarch of Venice, inaugurated this week the Studium Generale Marcianum, a new learning center that seeks to bring together all of the different fields of knowledge and provide education for students of all grade levels, from primary school to post-graduate studies.

Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, and Archbishop Javier Echevarria of Opus Dei and Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical University of Santa Cruz, were also present at the ceremony.

The new center will provide integral formation for students of all grade levels, restoring the unity in the fields of knowledge that was the hallmark of medieval scholars.

In his remarks during the inauguration, Cardinal Scola said the Studium was “created with the aim of accompanying all people of good will in their personal and free search” to satisfy one of man’s “essential desires,” which is the desire for “the truth.”

Addressing the religious, political and military officials gathered for the event, the Cardinal said the Studium seeks “to sustain the missionary action of the Church by helping the faithful to give a reason for their hope, to themselves, but also to all men and women with whom they come in contact.”

The uniqueness of the Studium lies in the fact that it will bring together all of the educational entities that belong to the Patriarchate, with the purpose of “confronting the serious fragmentation which has affected the fields of research and of communication, and the different fields of study.”

Last December, Pope Juan Paul II sent a hand-written message of encouragement to the creators of the Studium.