Christian World | Pope Leo XIV told a Catholic university in Chiclayo, Peru, that the search for truth must serve humanity and rejected transhumanist promises to end death

ACW | November 14, 2026 — Pope Leo XIV told students and professors at Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo Catholic University in Chiclayo, Peru, on Friday that the search for truth must become service to humanity, Vatican News reported.

A Catholic university is a place "where the search for truth becomes an act of love and service to the great human family," the pope said. Vatican News did not give the size of the gathering.

Leo warned against reducing education to job training and against uncritically following technocratic thinking, urging students to think critically, according to Vatican News.

He rejected "the promises of transhumanism and posthumanism" to abolish disease, aging and death, saying human "limitation is not a manufacturing defect, but rather the very condition of human grandeur."

The pope held up St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, the university's patron, and his defense of the rights and dignity of indigenous peoples as a model for using scientific innovation to bridge social divides. He called teaching "a lofty expression of intellectual charity" serving social justice, the poor and creation.

Background: Earlier the same day, Leo met priests and lay leaders of the local Church in Chiclayo, his former diocese, Vatican News reported (Pope Leo tells Chiclayo clergy baptism defines Christians). His trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru began on Nov. 6.

Why it matters: The pope presented a Catholic saint's defense of indigenous peoples' rights and dignity as a model for university research and placed human dignity at the center of education, Vatican News reported.

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Source: Vatican News — Pope in Peru: Search for truth in universities becomes service to humanity

Photo: Vatican Media