university founded in 1946, property of the archdiocese of Quito and managed by   
   Jesuit fathers, with 30,000 students currently enrolled.   
    The Holy Father was greeted by the rector, Cesar Fabian Carrasco Castro, and   
   the bishop of Loja, Alfredo Jose Espinoza Mateus, president of the Episcopal   
   Commission for Education and Culture. This was followed by a prayer, composed   
   by   
   St. Miguel Febres Cordero F.S.C. (1854-1910), known as St. Hermano Miguel, and   
   a   
   passage from the Gospel of St. Luke, the parable of the sower, was read.   
    In the discourse he subsequently pronounced, Francis expressed first his   
   gratitude for the encounter in a university "which for almost sixty years has   
   helped to further the Church's educational mission in service to the men and   
   women of this country", and went on to consider the theme of care for creation   
   and education as a seed for the transformation of society.   
    "In the Gospel we have just heard, Jesus, the Master, teaches the crowds and   
   the small group of his disciples by accommodating himself to their ability to   
   understand. He does this with parables, like that of the sower. The Lord was   
   always flexible in His way of teaching. He does it in a way that everyone can   
   understand. Jesus does not seek to 'play the professor'", emphasised the Pope.   
   "Instead, He seeks to reach people's hearts, their understanding and their   
   lives, so that they may bear fruit. The parable of the sower speaks to us of   
   'cultivating'. It speaks of various kinds of soil, ways of sowing and bearing   
   fruit, and how they are all related. Ever since the time of Genesis, God has   
   quietly urged us to 'cultivate and care for the earth'. God does not only give   
   us life: he gives us the earth, he gives us all of creation. He does not only   
   give man a partner and endless possibilities: he also gives human beings a   
   task,   
   he gives them a mission. He invites them to be a part of his creative work and   
   he says: 'Cultivate it! I am giving you seeds, soil, water and sun. I am giving   
   you your hands and those of your brothers and sisters. There it is, it is   
   yours.   
   It is a gift, a present, an offering. It is not something that can be bought or   
   acquired. It precedes us and it will be there long after us. Our world is a   
   gift   
   given to us by God so that, with Him, we can make it our own. God did not will   
   creation for Himself, so He could see Himself reflected in it. On the contrary:   
   creation is a gift to be shared. It is the space that God gives us to build up   
   with one another, to build a 'we'. The world, history, all of time - this is   
   the   
   setting in which we build this 'we' with God, with others, with the earth. This   
   invitation is always present, more or less consciously in our life; it is   
   always   
   there".   
    But, Francis observed, "there is something else which is special. As Genesis   
   recounts, after the word 'cultivate', another word immediately follows: 'care'.   
   Each explains the other. They go hand in hand. Those who do not cultivate do   
   not   
   care; those who do not care do not cultivate. We are not only invited to share   
   in the work of creation and to cultivate it, to make it grow and to develop it.   
   We are also invited to care for it, to protect it, to be its guardians.   
   Nowadays   
   we are increasingly aware of how important this is. It is no longer a mere   
   recommendation, but rather a requirement, 'because of the harm we have   
   inflicted   
   on [the earth] by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God   
   has endowed it. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters,   
   entitled   
   to plunder her at will. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste,   
   is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor'".   
    He continued, "There is a relationship between our life and that of mother   
   earth, between the way we live and the gift we have received from God. 'The   
   human environment and the natural environment deteriorate together; we cannot   
   adequately combat environmental degradation unless we attend to causes related   
   to human and social degradation'. Yet just as both can 'deteriorate', we can   
   also say that they can 'support one another and can be changed for the better'.   
   This reciprocal relationship can lead to openness, transformation, and life, or   
   to destruction and death. One thing is certain: we can no longer turn our backs   
   on reality, on our brothers and sisters, on mother earth. It is wrong to turn   
   aside from what is happening all around us, as if certain situations did not   
   exist or have nothing to do with our life. It is not lawful, much less human,   
   to   
   enter into the culture of waste. Again and again we sense the urgency of the   
   question which God put to Cain, 'Where is your brother?' But I wonder if our   
   answer continues to be: 'Am I my brother's keeper?'.   
    "I live in Rome, where it is cold in winter. It can happen that just near the   
   Vatican in the morning an elderly person is found dead from the cold. There is   
   no news report in any of the daily or weekly newspapers. A poor person who dies   
   today of cold and hunger is not a news item, but if the stock markets of the   
   major world capitals drop two or three points, it is a great global scandal. I   
   ask myself: 'Where is your brother?' And I ask you to do this once again, each   
   of you, to ask this question, and to do so at the university. To you, Catholic   
   University, I ask: 'Where is your brother?'".   
    He went on to invite those present to ask themselves whether it would be   
   worthwhile reflecting "on the way we educate about this earth of ours, which   
   cries out to heaven", within the university setting, as "our academic   
   institutions are seedbeds, places full of possibility, fertile soil which we   
   must care for, cultivate and protect. Fertile soil thirsting for life".   
    "My question to you, as educators, is this: Do you watch over your students,   
   helping them to develop a critical sense, an open mind capable of caring for   
   today's world? A spirit capable of seeking new answers to the varied challenges   
   that society sets before us? Are you able to encourage them not to disregard   
   the   
   world around them? Does our life, with its uncertainties, mysteries and   
   questions, find a place in the university curriculum or different academic   
   activities? Do we enable and support a constructive debate which fosters   
   dialogue in the pursuit of a more humane world? One avenue of reflection   
   involves all of us, family, schools and teachers. How do we help our young   
   people not to see a university degree as synonymous with higher status, money   
   and social prestige. How can we help make their education a mark of greater   
   responsibility in the face of today's problems, the needs of the poor, concern   
   for the environment?"   
    He continued, "I also have a question for you, dear students. You are   
   Ecuador's   
   present and future, the seedbed of your society's future growth. Do you realise   
   that this time of study is not only a right, but a privilege? How many of your   
   friends, known or unknown, would like to have a place in this house but, for   
   various reasons, do not? To what extent do our studies help us feel solidarity   
   with them?   
    "Educational communities play an essential role in the enrichment of civic and   
   cultural life. It is not enough to analyse and describe reality: there is a   
   need   
   to shape environments of creative thinking, discussions which develop   
   alternatives to current problems, especially today. Faced with the   
   globalisation   
   of a technocratic paradigm which tends to believe that 'every increase in power   
   means an increase of progress itself, an advance in security, usefulness,   
   welfare and vigour; ... an assimilation of new values into the stream of   
   culture,   
   as if reality, goodness and truth automatically flow from technological and   
   economic power as such', it is urgent that we keep reflecting on and talking   
   about our current situation. We need to ask ourselves about the kind of culture   
   we want not only for ourselves, but for our children and our grandchildren. We   
   have received this earth as an inheritance, as a gift, in trust. We would do   
   well to ask ourselves: 'What kind of world do we want to leave behind? What   
   meaning or direction do we want to give to our lives? Why have we been put   
   here?   
   What is the purpose of our work and all our efforts?'".   
    "Personal initiatives are always necessary and good", he remarked. "But we are   
   asked to go one step further: to start viewing reality in an organic and not   
   fragmented way, to ask about where we stand in relation to others, inasmuch as   
   'everything is interconnected'. As a university, as educational institutions,   
   as   
   teachers and students, life itself challenges us to answer this question: What   
   does this world need us for? Where is your brother?"   
    The Pope concluded by invoking the inspiration and company of the Holy Spirit   
   "for He has summoned us, invited us, given us the opportunity and the duty to   
   offer the best of ourselves. He is the same Spirit Who on the first day of   
   creation moved over the waters, ready to transform them, ready to bestow life.   
   He is the same Spirit who gave the disciples the power of Pentecost. The Spirit   
   does not abandon us. He becomes one with us, so that we can encounter paths of   
   new life. May He, the Spirit, always be our teacher and our companion along the   
   way.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    To the representatives of civil society: gratuity, solidarity and subsidiarity   
   are learned in the family and practised in society   
    Vatican City, 8 July 2015 (VIS) - Shortly before 6 p.m. (local time) the Pope   
   arrived at the Church of St. Francis, which along with its adjacent convent,   
   constitutes the oldest Catholic religious building in Latin America. The site,   
   of great symbolic significance for the indigenous populations as the base of   
   the   
   Inca and Caranqui military commanders, was acquired by the Franciscans using   
   funds donated from Belgium. Construction began in 1536, the year of the   
   foundation of Quito, and was completed in 1680, although the complex was   
   subsequently extended and was nicknamed "El Escorial of the New World" for its   
   artistic and architectural wealth, extending over three and a half hectares of   
   buildings (13 cloisters, three churches, more than 3,500 colonial works of art   
   and a splendid Franciscan library). It currently hosts various cultural and   
   social activities as well as schools of painting, sculpture and engraving.   
    The mayor of Quito, Mauricio Rodas, awaited the Holy Father at the main   
   entrance of the Church, in order to present him the keys to the city. Following   
   this simple act, without speeches, the guardian of the Franciscan community   
   welcomed Francis to the centre where he met with Ecuadorian civil society and   
   the representatives of various sectors including culture and the economy,   
   industrial and rural enterprise, voluntary work and sport. The indigenous   
   Amazon   
   peoples were well-represented.   
    After receiving greetings from the archbishop of Cuenca, Luis Gerardo Cabrera   
   Herrera, president of the Commission for the Laity of the Episcopal Conference,   
   and listening to the words of three laypeople, the Pope pronounced a discourse   
   focusing on the importance of the family as the place where socially useful   
   values such as solidarity, gratuity and respect are learned.   
    "As I entered this church, the Mayor of Quito gave me the keys to the city. So   
   I can say that here, in Saint Francis of Quito, I feel at home. His expression   
   of affectionate closeness, opening your doors to me, allows me to speak, in   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)