VATICAN CITY, JAN. 11, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The University of the Holy Cross celebrated its 20th anniversary with an academic ceremony of presentation of the minutes of a congress on “The Grandeur of Daily Life.”
The congress was held in January 2002 in Rome on the centenary of the birth of St. Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei and inspirer of the university.
In his address Monday during the academic ceremony, Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Sainthood Causes, highlighted the relationship of the pontifical university with the Pope.
“For the University of the Holy Cross the adjective ‘Pontifical’ has never been a merely decorative title, but a qualification which commits it profoundly, inviting it to active fidelity to the Roman Pontiff,” and, in union with him, “to the Church as a whole,” he said.
Cardinal Saraiva Martins was secretary of the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education when the university was established. It was first known as the Roman Academic Center.
The cardinal said this institution is laudable because of its love of truth.
“St. Josemaría Escrivá,” he said, “was able to emphasize the need to unite this moral rectitude and love of truth with respect for the autonomy of the disciplines and, therefore, of the legitimate freedom of teachers and researchers, showing a unitary conception of the world and of man, capable of putting learning always at the service of the person.”
Bishop Javier Echevarria, grand chancellor of the university and prelate of Opus Dei, thanked God for these first 20 years of the university and said that “given the present situation which we always regard with objectivity and optimism, we participate in the promotion of a new culture, a new legislation, which will respond fully to God’s plan for creation and to the dignity of man.”
The university’s 1,400 students come from 97 countries.
