Pope Francis received the teachers and students of the Vatican School of Paleography, Diplomatics and Archivistics and the Vatican School of Library Science as the former school marked its 140th anniversary, and the latter school its 90th anniversary.
Paleography is the study of ancient writing and inscriptions; diplomatics is the study of the interpretation of ancient documents; archivistics is archival science.
“The first capacity that is required is that of great openness to exchange and dialogue, and a readiness to welcome, especially the marginalized and the materially, culturally and spiritually poor,” the Pope said during the May 13 audience. “May your studies truly measure up to the fragility and richness of people today!”
The Pope also discussed “decisive cultural and epochal challenges,” including “the risk of the dulling and devaluation of knowledge” and “the need to include and never exclude anyone from the sources of knowledge and, at the same time, to defend everyone from what is toxic, unhealthy and violent that can lurk in the world of social media and technological knowledge.”