Pope to make St. John Henry Newman co-patron of Catholic education with St. Thomas Aquinas

ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 31, 2025 / 07:00 am

Pope Leo XIV declared St. John Henry Newman, along with St. Thomas Aquinas, as a patron saint of the Catholic Church’s educational mission in his recent apostolic letter on education, “Drawing New Maps of Hope.”

In the letter, the pontiff draws a connection between the two saints, separated by six centuries but united by the same mission: teaching within the Catholic Church.

Paul Gordon, professor of Catholic social doctrine and contemporary history and literature at the Ángel Ayala Institute of Humanities, reflected on the Holy Father’s letter in a recent conversation with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

Union between faith and reason

As the Scottish professor noted, both Newman and Aquinas were theologians who promoted dialo