The Chancellor of the University of Saint Joseph (USJ), Bishop of Macao, the Most Reverend Stephen Lee Bun-sang, and the Rector, the Reverend Professor Stephen Morgan, met with Pope Francis in Rome on January 19th.
The event took place at the Centenary Conference of the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU), the body that gathers together all Catholic Universities around the world. The Catholic Church is the largest global provider of higher education with over 1,500 universities, colleges, and institutes. Professor Morgan is Vice-President of the Federation and along with Bishop Lee, were among the first at the Conference to be presented to Pope Francis.
The theme of the Conference was “The University and the Church” and in his address, Pope Francis pointed out that Catholic Universities were amongst the most important ways in which the Catholic Church serves wider society and contributes to human flourishing. Professor Morgan reminded the Pope that Catholic higher education had started in Asia with the Colégio São Paulo in Macao in 1594 and that with USJ and the newly recognized University of St. Francis in Hong Kong, China now has two Catholic universities. The Pope said he wished the universities to flourish and to be a witness to truth, humanity and dialogue in a crucially important part of the world.
Source: USJ
(Left to right: Chancellor of the University of Saint Joseph, and Bishop of Macao, the Most Reverend Stephen Lee Bun-sang and Pope Francis)
(Left to right: Rector of the University of Saint Joseph, the Reverend Professor Stephen Morgan, and Pope Francis)