Scottish Catholic Observer

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, has spoken of the vital role of education in enriching a nation.

Representing Pope Benedict XVI at the Beatification of Antonia Maria Verna (1773-1838) on Sunday in the cathedral of Ivrea in Italy, the cardinal highlighted the present-day validity of the newly Blessed’s educational ideas, which remind us of the vital need for schools in which the religious dimension ‘can be revealed in all its positive potential for full human development.’

Cardinal Bertone said this is an aspect ‘also very important for our time.’

“Too often it seems that people are afraid to leave space for the religious dimension of life, which is inherent to the human heart, and would like to hide it in the private world of the individual,” the cardinal said. “Such an attitude greatly impoverishes educational activity.”

The cardinal highlighted that Mother Verna’s message ‘invites us not to be afraid to educate people in the demanding choices which Jesus continues to present in the Church.’

Mother Verna was a pioneer of female education who, according to the cardinal, worked towards ‘the authentic promotion of women in the society of the day.’

“In collaboration with the civil authorities of her time, Mother Antonia strove for a form of education that could reach the largest number of children and help them to develop all dimensions of their personality, completely and harmoniously,” Cardinal Bertone said, laying emphasis on the many primary and secondary schools founded by the new blessed and her congregation, the Institute of the Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception.