We also welcome you to Colombia, an extraordinary country that holds one of the greatest biodiversities on Earth—a land where the Amazon rainforest, the Andes mountain ranges, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the savannas of the Orinoco basin meet, and where a rich cultural heritage thrives, woven together by ancestral peoples, rural communities, and vibrant contemporary urban expressions.

It is a country well represented by natural and archaeological wonders like the Chiribiquete National Park—sacred territory for Indigenous peoples and home to over 75,000 cave paintings, forming one of the most significant pictographic and archaeological complexes in the Americas, still holding many secrets about our continent’s past.

But Colombia is also a country with open wounds. The signing of the 2016 peace accords opened new paths, although their implementation still faces great challenges. After decades of armed conflict, worsened by the devastating impact of illicit economies, corruption, social inequality, and poverty, we are now undergoing a complex transition toward peace. Despite the difficulties and the persistence of violence, inequality, and exclusion, Colombian society has not given up hope for reconciliation and continues to believe in justice, dialogue, and social transformation.

You are arriving in a country of contrasts—marked by natural beauty, violence, and hope. Colombians, as you will surely witness, are resilient, joyful, welcoming, and respectful of cultural diversity; we deeply yearn for a just and peaceful life.

As Wade Davis, ethnobotanist and great connoisseur of our human and physical geography, once said, Colombia is not a country of the past but a country of the future. And it’s true. Here, where wounds still ache and scars are visible, new generations flourish—like our Javeriana students—young people with a deep, dialogical vision, caring for our common home and committed to transforming the world. They—heirs of pain and sowers of hope—are preparing to build a more reconciled country. They embody the possibility of a Colombia that does not renounce memory but also does not resign itself to fear and violence. We are fully aware that political transitions are both fragile and fertile, and that they challenge us not only as a nation but as humanity.

We live in a time that demands, in every sense and dimension, both global and local collaboration. Having you here in our home is inspiring. Universities play a crucial role in these contexts. They are unique and privileged spaces where societies can confront their greatest challenges, educate ethical and ecological citizens, conduct rigorous research to address pressing human and social problems, and influence public policy with justice. They are called to build bridges from existing worlds to possible and desirable ones. IAJU represents a great opportunity to join efforts, embrace plurality, sow and cultivate together, accompany generations and territories, and offer transformative and sustainable solutions.

You are also arriving at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, which welcomes you with affection and hospitality. Our university began its history in 1623, the year that marks the founding of what would later be known in colonial times as the University and Academy of Saint Francis Xavier, canonized a year earlier. After 143 years of academic activity, the Javeriana was forced to close in 1767, the year of the expulsion of the Jesuits from the New Kingdom of Granada. More than a century and a half later, on October 1, 1930, the Act of Restoration was signed, marking the beginning of the contemporary period of our institution.

With its campuses in Bogotá and Cali, and the recently created technical and technological branch, our legacy spans generations. Nearly 250,000 alumni have been formed in a humanistic and scientific environment that fosters and expands the defining traits of our identity: social awareness, democratic values, and a commitment to the pursuit of truth.

Today, with around 30,000 students, 4,800 professors, and 2,900 administrative staff, Javeriana fosters a vibrant, interdisciplinary, and plural atmosphere that allows solidarity, fraternity, constructive dialogue, and care for one another to emerge and take root. It is a constant invitation for all of us to be examples of citizenship, justice, and honesty and to lead ethically in an ever-changing world.

We offer a broad and diverse academic portfolio with 322 undergraduate and graduate programs and a wide, innovative range of short courses. Through the work of our 128 research and research-creation groups, we aim to contribute to the generation, advancement, and dissemination of knowledge, with a special emphasis on its social appropriation. In all that we do, we aspire to be agents of transformation in Colombian society.

In a climate of freedom, mutual respect, and deep human sensitivity, we seek to always be an open house where thoughtful, curious, and committed individuals converge—people who wish to respond meaningfully to society’s greatest challenges, build bonds, and contribute to academic debate. We have taken up the collective task of actively participating in Colombia’s reconciliation, promoting social dialogue, and strengthening democratic culture.

The encounter between our professors and rural communities since the 1970s led us to take seriously the care of territory and the environment. Thanks to this tradition, we organically embraced the calls of Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti, and we have been recognized as leaders in the Global Compact on Education, particularly in the areas of integral ecology and technology. From there, we have opened ourselves to new questions that demand responses rooted in a perspective of social friendship and solidarity-based humanism.

In these challenging times—marked by complexity and growing skepticism about the value of universities, with attempts to relativize scientific evidence and the search for truth—we encounter sensitive, fragile human beings, easily swayed by various causes, and living in uncertainty and tension about their future. In the face of this, and for them, Javeriana is engaged in deep processes that are reviving questions and searches, enabling us to chart paths based on what we are: a university with a Catholic and Jesuit identity.

In the face of an uncertain and demanding present, we do not renounce the task of thinking and building the university of the future. We seek to be an ecosystem of knowledge and integral formation for building societies in peace. We are inspired by care for people, a solidarity-based humanism, and the desire to build the just society we dream of.

Javeriana University has chosen to promote a culture of conversation and dialogue, grounded in trust, mutual recognition, and shared responsibility—an essential attitude for navigating these times of instability and weakening democratic values. We are building a comprehensive care system that embraces care for the person, for words, for knowledge, for interactions, for learning, and for the formative process. We believe that strengthening research, innovation, creation, interdisciplinarity, and engagement with various sectors of society is a crucial path toward solving today’s most pressing problems. We are designing pathways to better reach territories and people, and to ensure that integral ecology becomes a lived experience throughout our country.

We believe that this fantastic network of Jesuit universities is the best space for acting together while remaining faithful to our identity. At Javeriana, you will find full openness and commitment to strengthening our cooperation. We recognize that the world’s most urgent challenges today cannot be solved in isolation or within disciplinary silos. International collaboration and strong, meaningful networks must therefore be central to our work and our shared efforts.

Let me conclude by affirming that the fraternal bond is a hallmark that makes Jesuit universities unique. We trust that these days of shared reflection and renewed commitment will inspire us to continue caring for the university as a vital and relevant social institution, to broaden horizons, deepen the meaning of this association that brings us together, propose paths of hope, and strengthen our impact on the lives of people and societies.
The university apostolate of the Society of Jesus is a collective endeavor in constant evolution. We are thrilled to welcome you to Colombia to continue writing this story together.
Thank you very much.

Luis Fernando Múnera Congote, S.J.
Rector of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
Bogotá, Tuesday, July 1, 2025