The Vatican’s secretary of state, His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin, came to Fordham for the second time on Monday, meeting with University leaders and offering blessings and words of wisdom that further cemented the bonds between the University and the Holy See.
“I confess to you that I really feel at home here,” said Cardinal Parolin, the second-highest official in the Vatican after Pope Leo, recalling his Fordham visit in 2024. Speaking at Butler Commons on the Rose Hill campus, he also commented on the room’s ceiling, covered with a reproduction of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel fresco. “Of course, it reminds me of the conclave” that selected Leo as pope last year, he said in a light moment.
He portrayed the Jesuit education offered at Fordham as more vital than ever in today’s world.
“For more than 180 years, this University … has formed generations of men and women who have not only succeeded in their professions, but placed what they learned at the service of others, especially to the most vulnerable,” he said.
Learning That Serves the Common Good
“Learning that never leaves the lecture hall has not yet finished its work. It is meant to serve justice, reconciliation, and the common good,” Cardinal Parolin said. He hailed the many philosophy and theology faculty and students in the audience, saying their studies equip them to address profound questions of “who are we, where we come from, and to what purpose our gifts are entrusted to us.”
“As far as the technology is progressing, more and more, we need such [questions]… to be answered,” he said.
A United Nations Visit
In town for meetings at the United Nations, the cardinal made a morning visit to Fordham, where he met with Fordham President Tania Tetlow and other University leaders in the president’s office. They discussed national affairs and current topics such as the potential impact of artificial intelligence on higher education.
“I think he was trying to get a sense of American society [and] how we’re feeling” about current issues before his U.N. visit, said David Gibson, director of Fordham’s Center on Religion and Culture, who attended the meeting. “He really wants to get a sense from people on the ground, especially those of us connected with young people.”
Cardinal Parolin ended his Fordham visit with a stop at Murray-Weigel Hall, where he visited with retired Jesuits living there.
Building Bonds with the Vatican
In addition to coming to Fordham two years ago, Cardinal Parolin has met with Fordham trustees and University leaders during their visits to Rome in recent years. At his invitation, Fordham formed a partnership with Villa Nazareth, a Vatican-affiliated residential college in Rome for gifted lay students, where Parolin serves as president. The partnership allows students from Villa Nazareth’s Rome community to study at Fordham.
Tetlow said Fordham was “proud and happy” to welcome Parolin back to campus. In her own remarks at the Butler Commons gathering, she spoke about Fordham’s history and praised theology and philosophy faculty for their commitment to the University’s values.
“They have heard the church’s call to address the urgent issues of the day—caring for the earth, our home; walking with the marginalized; and sounding the alarm of the unfettered power of technology,” she said, noting their efforts to bring scholars to Fordham’s Ignatian AI conference, which starts Oct. 1.
The cardinal was accompanied by other church officials including Archbishop Christophe-Zakhia El-Kassis, the new Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, who represents the Vatican at U.N. headquarters in New York. In her remarks, Tetlow congratulated and welcomed him. “We promise to continue sending our best students as your interns, and hope that you will take them,” she said.
