Scholarships

On 17 November, we celebrated International Students’ Day, an annual event that invites us to reflect on the universal value of education, first and foremost as a right to study. Today, this anniversary is also an opportunity to reconsider education as a valuable means of building peace and justice. We as the Thouret Foundation have been supporting a numerous young girls and boys in their studies for years: we are convinced that through education we can rescue them from their conditions, which are quite often very sad and difficult, and give them the chance to dream! We have therefore adopted this motto for the 2025 Christmas campaign: ‘Study with passion, dream without limits’. This year, as every year, we want to continue supporting the studies of these young people by contributing to the tuition fees, purchase of stationery, school supplies, food, accommodation, transport and other expenses for many girls and young women in Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Egypt, Lebanon and Indonesia.

We try in every way to accompany these girls and children and we are committed to enabling their dreams to come true. We believe in education, as Pope Leo XIV says in his Apostolic Letter “Drawing New Maps of Hope”: ‘Educating is an act of hope and a passion that is renewed because it manifests the promise we can see in the future of humanity. The uniqueness, depth and breadth of education is that act – as mysterious at the same time as real – of “making the being flourish […] is taking care of the soul”.” We are well aware of the fragility of this task and undertake it with confidence in the help of the Lord, the first guardian and knower of all souls. After all, our commitment is directed towards many young people, but we pay particular attention to those who are orphaned or abandoned and to those who, due to abuse and violence, are entrusted to the care of our sisters in our homes. The greatest gift we can offer them is to take care of their souls. Many of them are thus able to attend university and obtain a degree that allows them to access meaningful and influential positions in society: they become protagonists of a better society and, above all, they can promote the values they have learned, namely solidarity, justice and peace. Pope Leo XIV also says: “Putting the person at the centre means educating them to see with the long-sighted gaze of Abraham (Gen 15:5): allowing them to discover the meaning of life, their indivisible dignity, and their responsibility towards others.

Education is not only the transmission of content, but also the learning of virtues. It forms citizens capable of serving and believers capable of witnessing, men and women who are more free and no longer alone”. In this way, we contribute to realising the dream of a world of peace and justice. 11.2. I ask educational communities: disarm your words, lift up your gaze, guard your heart. Disarm your words, because education does not advance through controversy, but through gentleness that listens. Lift up your gaze. As God said to Abraham, “Look up at the sky and count the stars” (Gen 15:5): know how to ask yourselves where you are going and why. Guard your hearts: relationships come before opinions, people before programmes. Do not waste time and opportunities: “to quote Augustine: our present is an intuition, a time we live and must take advantage of before it slips through our fingers” [24]. In conclusion, dear brothers and sisters, I make my own the exhortation of the Apostle Paul: “You must shine like stars in the world, holding high the word of life” (Phil 2:15-16). Thank you for allowing us to experience closeness, tenderness and compassion towards our youngest sisters. Our thanks become prayers for you, that our God, who is never defeated in generosity, may make his face shine in your lives.