Pope in Equatorial Guinea: Christ manifests harmony between faith and reason
During his meeting with the World of Culture in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea at the National University's León XIV Campus, Pope Leo reiterates the perfect complementarity between faith and reason, and criticizes when Christ is reduced to 'a religious escape in the face of intellectual endeavors.'
By Deborah Castellano Lubov, for Vatican News.
"Christ does not appear as a religious escape in the face of intellectual endeavors, as if faith began where reason ended. On the contrary, in Him the profound harmony between truth, reason and freedom are manifested."
Pope Leo XIV made this point in Equatorial Guinea when meeting with the World of Culture in Malabo at the National University's León XIV Campus on 21 April 2026.
He acknowledged the inauguration of the new campus of the National University of Equatorial Guinea in his name, expressing his gratitude for the kind gesture, but stressing that "such a decision goes beyond the person being honored as it reflects the values that we all want to pass on to others."
The inauguration of a university campus is more than a mere administrative act, but rather is "an act of trust in human beings, an affirmation of the fact that it is worth the effort to continue wagering on the formation of new generations and on the task, so demanding and yet so noble, of seeking the truth and putting knowledge at the service of the common good."
He stressed therefore that a space for hope, encounter and progress is opened, and accordingly used the image of a tree to speak of the university’s mission, as he remembered that for the people of Equatorial Guinea, the ceiba, the national tree, has a great symbolic meaning.
Deep roots and persevering search for truth
The Pope remembered that a tree puts forth deep roots, and ascends slowly with patience and strength to the heights, embodying a fruitfulness that does not exist for itself.
Likewise, he suggested, "a university is called to be well rooted in the seriousness of study, in the living memory of a people and in the persevering search for truth."
He also acknowledged that the history of humanity can also be read through the symbolism of some biblical trees, and went on to emphasize that Christian tradition contemplates another tree, that of the Cross, not as a denial of human intelligence, but as a sign of its redemption.
"If in Genesis we find the temptation to seek knowledge separated from truth and goodness," he said, "on the Cross we find a truth revealed, Jesus Christ, who far from imposing His own will, offers Himself through love and elevates us to the dignity with which we were conceived from the beginning."
At the cross, the Pope went on to observe, human beings are invited "to allow their desire for knowledge to be healed; to rediscover that truth is not fabricated, not manipulated nor possessed like a trophy, but welcomed, sought with humility and served with responsibility."
Christ is not 'a religious escape in the face of intellectual endeavors, as if faith began where reason ended'
For this reason, from a Christian perspective, he stated, Christ does not appear as a religious escape in the face of intellectual endeavors, as if faith began where reason ended.
On the contrary, Pope Leo insisted, in Him the profound harmony between truth, reason and freedom are manifested.
In this context, the Holy Father explained that truth presents itself as a reality that precedes human beings, challenges them and calls them to come out of themselves, saying this is why truth can be sought with trust.
"Faith, far from shutting itself off from this search," he added, "purifies it of self-sufficiency and opens it to a fullness towards which reason strives, even if it cannot completely embrace it."
In this way, the Pope noted, the tree of the Cross restores the original purpose for love of knowledge and teaches us that knowing means being open to truth, understanding both what it means and the mystery contained therein.
"Thus, the search for truth remains truly human: humble, serious and open to a truth that precedes us, calls us and transcends us."
Profoundly shaped by the truth
The Pope also said that a tree bearing fruit is not enough, for the quality also matters.
With this sentiment, the Holy Father therefore reiterated the Church's "sincere desire," in her centuries-old commitment to the field of education, namely "that new generations are formed in an integral way.
"If generations of men and women are profoundly shaped in this place by truth and are capable of transforming their own existence into a gift for others," he said, "then the ceiba will remain an eloquent symbol rooted in the best things of this land, elevated by wisdom and abounding in fruits that pay tribute to Equatorial Guinea and enrich the entire human family."
