From Gonzaga University to Georgetown, passing through Comillas and Loyola, Marquette and the Gregorian, there are many schools and universities around the world, founded or directed by the Jesuits, which adopt an Ignatian pedagogy: a true revolution, born almost 500 years ago and based on the vision of education as crucial for the future of the world.

One of the characteristics of Ignatian education – as the Pope said to the Jesuit schools, at the audience in the Vatican on June 7, 2013 – is to teach children to be “magnanimous“, that is, to have greatness of mind and great ideals: “to do the small things of every day with a very big heart, open to God and to others.” This is why each of the Jesuit Education Foundation’s schools is much more than “a school”: it is a place where, alongside the intellectual dimension, the development of human virtues, such as loyalty, respect, trustworthiness, and commitment, is cultivated.

If there is one characteristic common to all Ignatian schools – which is also the reason for the life of the Foundation itself – it is forming “leaders in service“. Forming “leaders” is ambitious, helping young people to get off the ground, identifying their own talents, cultivating them, and putting them in practice; not for themselves, however, but for others, especially the poorest and the least. Often Jesuit schools are portrayed as the forge of the new “ruling class”, because over the centuries many people who held leading positions in society have studied there; but all this would be meaningless without – as the motto chosen by St Ignatius for the Society of Jesus says – ad maiorem Dei gloriam, that is, for the greater glory of God.

Leaders yes, but in service, and committed to building a better world.

Being “Ignatian” means taking the risk of freedom and discernment. It means educating kids to responsibility, and the metaphor used by Pope Francis in our meeting makes the point very well: “one step standing firm on the frame of safety, but the other going into the risk zone. And when that risk becomes safety, the other step seeks another risk zone. You can’t just educate in safety: no. That is preventing personalities from growing. But neither can one educate only in the risk zone: this is too dangerous.”

Jesuit education is a distinctive trait for us: in pastoral work, in teaching, in human relationships. It is the air we breathe that fills our lungs, and it fills the lungs of our children.