Today, November 12, Pope Benedict XVI received students of Rome’s LUMSA University (Libera Universita Maria Santissima Assunta) in honor of the 70th anniversary of the institution’s founding.  In his address to the students, the Holy Father noted that the institution came into being “with a well-defined Catholic identity.”  Pope Benedict reminded the students of their University’s particular identity.  “[LUMSA] is a Catholic university which has this Christian inspiration as a specific element of its identity. As its 'Magna Charta' reads, it aims to undertake academic activity oriented towards the search for truth, in a dialogue between faith and reason, in an ideal attempt to integrate knowledge and values.”  The Holy Father also pointed to the fact that LUMSA University has been able to “maintain a dual focus: remaining faithful to the original idea [of its founder]… and, at the same time, responding to the new challenges of society.”  The Pope then said that “The modern context is, in fact, characterized by a worrying educational emergency in which the task of those called to teach assumes a particular importance.”  Earlier this week, Pope Benedict XVI made a similar statement when he noted that, “We live in times in which a real ‘educational crisis’ is evident.”  Source: Vatican Information Service