‘Keep working from the heart of the Church to bring Jesus Christ to every person who comes into your classrooms, into your lives, to educate people capable of welcoming God and bearing testimony of Him in any context, building a fraternal society where the Church is seen through the well doing of its members’. With these words, Pope Francis has greeted the UCAM representatives who have attended a private audience with the Holy Father today.  

The University Council of UCAM and the Mendoza family, headed by María Dolores García, UCAM president, were received by the Pope, who recalled the figure of José Luis Mendoza, founder of the educational institution, even recalling some of his words: ‘He wanted his legacy to be a “missionary, evangelising and profoundly existential” university, born from the heart of the Church and “driven by the power of God's Love”’. 

At the end of the audience, the UCAM president said that ‘it was very emotional and moving’ and took up the baton from His Holiness: ‘We will do it with great enthusiasm. The Pope has encouraged us to work keeping the spirit that José Luis imprinted on our daily life in order to bring the message of the Church to all members of our university community in mind’. 

  As part of the UCAM delegation, José Manuel Lorca, bishop of the Diocese of Cartagena, was present at the audience and stressed that ‘meeting the Holy Father is always very moving. It has helped us all a lot. The Pope focused on an assessment of what UCAM does and encouraged us to continue our work highlighting the figure of José Luis Mendoza, as a man of the Church, a man of Faith who was determined to build something that came from God’. For her part, Josefina García, UCAM rector, stressed that ‘the Pope has left his mark on us with his humility and simplicity. The Church has always been very close to our institution because the values of Christian humanism have to reach young people. These values are extremely necessary, especially in today's society’.

The president of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), Alejandro Blanco, was also present due to the commitment of both COE and UCAM to help athletes and to enhance the fraternal relationship that linked him with José Luis Mendoza: ‘I have the feeling that I have lived a unique and unrepeatable moment when the great dream of my brother José Luis came true. This moment has been magical and will be hard to forget because of the moment itself and its significance’.  

 

Pope Francis' full message 

Dear friends, Your Excellency,

I am pleased to welcome you today to this holy house, as UCAM representatives, focusing on the celebration of the 25th anniversary of this institution and the recent passing of its founder José Luis Mendoza Pérez. Your bishop described him as ‘a brother, a believer, a witness of God's love, who wanted to do good’. These are beautiful words, nobody is perfect, but we can all love and be remembered for this, which is what brings us closer to God and his mercy. 

Mr José Luis wanted his legacy to be a ‘missionary, evangelising and profoundly existential’ university, born from the heart of the Church and ‘driven by the power of God's Love’. Because everything a Christian does, as a member of Christ, of this Church which is our mother, must be missionary, evangelising, and precisely for this reason it must be linked to human reality, to men's deepest questions, it must be existential. 

Today, this is what I wish from you: to keep working from the heart of the Church to bring Jesus Christ to every person who comes into your classrooms, into your lives, to educate people capable of welcoming God and bearing testimony of Him in any context, building a fraternal society where the Church is seen through the good deeds of its members. Thank you all for your hard work! 

May Jesus bless you and may the Lady of Compassion watch over you. And please do not forget to pray for me. Thank you very much.