Updated January 3, 2022

St. Jerome’s acknowledges and mourns the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI who passed away today at the age of 95 after a long life in service of the Church.

We reflect on the Pope Emeritus' life and service, specifically where it intersected with Catholic higher education. In 2008, he addressed Catholic educators, including 200 university and college presidents, where he expressed “profound gratitude” for the educators’ “selfless contributions,” and reaffirmed “the great value of academic freedom.” As reflected in St. Jerome’s own mission and values, the former pope stated that the job of Catholic educators is not just to train people to get jobs and make money, but to form people with good consciences and compassion to go out and make the world a better place. We thank Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI for his service and ministry to the Church and to the world. We wish him eternal peace.

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In a formal statement released January 1, 2023, the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities in Canada (ACCUC) expressed mourning over the passing of the Pope Emeritus, stating “while Benedict XVI has left this world for the glories of the next, he has bequeathed a corpus of theological works that have made a major impact on Christianity.” As a member of the ACCUC, St. Jerome’s University joins the Association and the universal Church in mourning and offers a prayer for the former pope’s final journey to the House of the Father in Heaven.

The ACCUC’s full statement can be accessed on its website or at the following links: English | Francais

The ACCUC is an organization of Roman Catholic institutions of higher education located across all parts of Canada. The ACCUC acts as the official voice for Catholic higher learning in Canada, as it seeks to spread “the spirit of learning” throughout the country.