President Cole’s ‘transformative’ meeting with Pope Francis

by Xavier Cole

By President Xavier Cole
Loyola University New Orleans

Meeting the pope is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I highly encourage anyone to seize the moment when presented with the chance. It is a transformational experience I will never forget.

Over the summer, my wife, Dr. Susanne DeBerry Cole, and I joined a small delegation of Catholic University presidents and spouses from the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) for their Rome Seminar. The trip itself was a great opportunity to engage with other Catholic University presidents to discuss the landscape of Catholic higher education while exploring the intellectual and spiritual legacy of the Catholic church. This experience allowed me to serve as an ambassador to the Roman Curia Dicastery of Culture and Education, strengthening and promoting the mission of American Catholic higher education.

Quite honestly, the ability to connect with other Catholic higher education leaders would have been enough of a valuable takeaway from the trip, but the further ability to more granularly study the foundations of our Catholic intellectual tradition, as well as, Catholic social thought provided a solid base of knowledge from which to employ the key tenets in my daily leadership and visioning for my Catholic apostolate.

The group met with Vatican leaders to understand the importance of the global synodality conversations, as well as the primacy of work for peace and justice around the world from a Catholic perspective. While my university’s charism is Jesuit, the group had opportunities to delve deeply into the foundational philosophies of other Catholic charisms such as Benedictine and Vincentian. When not in the classroom, the group explored the cultural treasures of Rome by touring the catacombs and visiting the Colosseum.

Lastly, the pièce de résistance was the ACCU group being granted an audience with Pope Francis for almost an hour! To be in dialogue with the pope was truly transformational. He is an incredibly gentle, generous, humble and contemplative man who displayed radical hospitality.

This interaction deepened my personal faith and strengthened my roots in the global Catholic church. The pope is an inspirational leader who discussed all the intricate ways that American Catholic higher education serves our nation and the world. I had the opportunity to ask him what guidance he has for leaders in Catholic higher education to address the war in the Middle East and how we can create spaces of trust for authentic conversations that don’t end in anger. The pope was passionate about this same subject and responded with a thoughtful 15-minute answer!

As we were nearing the end of our time, Pope Francis, who has significant power and authority, asked us if we would like to pray the Our Father together. He could have simply informed us that this is how we were going to close the meeting, but instead he gently and humbly asked us. It was an emotional moment for me for two reasons: 1. It was a tremendous display of servant leadership that I will take with me for the rest of my life, and 2. it reminded me of my late mother who enjoyed the moments when all of humanity came together to communally pray one of the most powerful prayers.

This trip reminded me of the greater sense of self. That my purpose was never meant to be self-serving but of servant leadership – to serve Loyola University New Orleans and the city of New Orleans with the same humility, gentleness and radical hospitality as the pope showed me. We as a city can come together in love and respect, trusting that we each have the very best intentions when we have authentic conversations.