via the Vatican:

I too have been a teacher in the educational institutions of the Order of Saint Augustine. I would like, therefore, to share my experience with you by focusing on four aspects of the doctrine of the Doctor Gratiae that I consider fundamental to Christian education: interiority, unity, love and joy. These are the principles that I would like to become the key elements of our journey together, making this meeting the beginning of a shared path of mutual growth and enrichment….

He thus reminds us that it is a mistake to think that beautiful words or good classrooms, laboratories and libraries are enough to teach. These are only means and physical spaces, certainly useful, but the Teacher is within. Truth does not spread through sounds, walls and corridors, but in the profound encounter between people, without which any educational endeavor is doomed to fail.

We live in a world dominated by technological screens and filters that are often superficial, whereas students need help to get in touch with their inner selves. And not only them, but educators too, who are often tired and overburdened with bureaucratic tasks, run the real risk of forgetting what Saint John Henry Newman summed up in the expression: cor ad cor loquitur (“heart speaks unto heart”) and what Saint Augustine said: “Do not look without, return to yourself, for truth dwells within you” (De Vera Religione, 39, 72). These words invite us to view formation as a path that teachers and pupils walk together (cf. Saint John Paul II, Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, 15 August 1990, 1)….

In the field of education, therefore, each one of us might ask ourselves what commitment are we making to address the most urgent needs; what efforts are we making to build bridges of dialogue and peace, even within teaching communities; what skills are we developing to overcome preconceptions or narrow views; what openness are we showing in co-learning processes; and what efforts are we making to meet and respond to the needs of the most fragile, poor and excluded? Sharing knowledge is not enough for teaching: love is needed….

This brings us to the last key word: joy. True teachers educate with a smile, and their goal is to awaken smiles in the depths of their students’ souls. Today, in our educational contexts, it is worrying to see the increasing symptoms of widespread inner fragility, at all ages. We cannot close our eyes to these silent cries for help; on the contrary, we must strive to identify their underlying causes. Artificial intelligence, in particular, with its technical, cold and standardized knowledge, can further cut off students who are already isolated, giving them the illusion that they do not need others or, worse still, the feeling that they are not worthy of them. The role of educators, on the other hand, is a human endeavor; and the very joy of the educational process is a fully human engagement, a “flame to melt our souls together, and out of many to make but one” (Saint Augustine, Confessions, IV, 8,13).