Transcript of Pope Benedict XVI’s video message last January 28:
Your Eminences, your Excellencies, dear friends, I am pleased to send my warm greetings to students and alumni of the Pontifical University of Santo Tomas as it celebrates the 400th anniversary of its foundation.
This is a significant event in the life of the Church and although I cannot be with you physically, I am happy to speak to you personally in this way to lend myself to you spiritually; and for all of you, my affection and congratulations on this happy occasion.
It is with thanksgiving that I recall to the many clergy, religious, and laity what Santo Tomas has handed down to generations of Filipinos of faith, knowledge, and wisdom, to be found in the religious and secular sciences, in particular the roots and memory of your founder Bishop Miguel de Benavides. As the great commitment of the Dominicans have guided the institution through so many challenges in the past four centuries.
As you know the University of Santo Tomas is the oldest institution of Catholic higher education in the Far East and it continues to play a very important role in the Church throughout the region. I am confident that keeping in mind the faith and the reason, which are always part of a truly integrated approach to education, the University will continue to contribute to the intellectual, spiritual, and cultural enrichment if the Philippines and beyond.
And I also pray that you will always seek knowledge of not as human and divine in the light of said ultimate clarity found in the person of Jesus Christ.
Invoking the divine intercession of your heavenly patron, St. Thomas Aquinas, I willingly impart to you my apostolic blessing as a virtue of grace and peace. I bless you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
