Suspension of activities on the occasion
of the funeral of the Holy Father Francis
On Saturday, 26 April 2025, activities will be suspended to allow participation in the funeral of the Holy Father Francis. The Libraries of the three missions will be closed to the public.
Mass of suffrage for the Holy Father Francis
To honour the memory of the Holy Father, the entire university community is invited to join together in prayer at a Mass of suffrage to be celebrated on Monday 28 April 2025, at 11:30 a.m., in the quadriporticus of the Central Palace of the Pontifical Gregorian University.
The celebration will be presided over by Rev. Fr. Sunny Kokkaravalayil S.J., Vice Rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University and President of the Mission of the Pontifical Oriental Institute.
Message from the Rector, Fr. Mark Lewis S.J.
in memory of the Holy Father Francis
Dear Academic Authorities
Dear Professors and Lecturers
Dear Students
Dear Employees and Collaborators
the University Community continues to gather in prayer for Pope Francis, mindful of the strength, courage and tenderness that he bore witness to and which we preserve within us as a treasure to be cherished and shared.
The sudden death of the Holy Father has made us even more aware of the great gift he gave us, on 5 November 2024, by personally coming to visit our University. This attention confirmed the care and concern that he reserved for the Gregoriana throughout his pontificate.
I cannot forget how, not even a year after his election, he wanted to convene in the Paul VI Hall the assembled communities of the Pontifical Gregorian University, the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Oriental Institute (14 April 2014). Already on that occasion, in the presence of the then Father General Adolfo Nicolás SJ, he reminded us of the importance of developing among our institutions «collaboration and synergy, strong in the historic memory and at the same time informed of the present and looking to the future […] with creativity and imagination, seeking to form a global vision of the situations and present challenges and a shared manner of confronting them, finding new paths without fear».
In that same hall, we were once again convened on February 25, 2023, together with the Rectors, faculty members, students, and staff of all the Pontifical Universities and Institutions in Rome. On that occasion as well, Pope Francis invited us to "join in chorus". «Indeed, the university is a school of harmony and consonance among different voices and instruments. It is not a school of uniformity: no, it is one of harmony and consonance among different voices and instruments. Saint John Henry Newman describes the university as the place where different forms of knowledge and perspectives are expressed in symphony; they complement, correct, and counterbalance each other».
Finally, in his wide-ranging and rich speech to us last November, he reminded us that «nurturing relationships requires a heart open to dialogue. The heart unites the fragments and with the hearts of others bridges of encounter are built».
The word 'heart' recurs 20 times in that speech. In the course of his pontificate, Pope Francis has been able to touch the hearts of many people, even those far from the Church, and now we gratefully entrust him to the heart of God.
