(Remarks as prepared)
First, I would like to thank Father Robert A. Dowd, the President of the University of Notre Dame, and the members of his Leadership Council for their kind invitation. I would also like to thank the Chair and Board of Trustees.
Warm greetings also to my fellow distinguished honorees, the Notre Dame faculty and staff, alumni, students, parents, and families of the graduates — especially the Class of 2026 graduates. It is a great honor and privilege to be here with you today to celebrate this significant milestone in your lives.
Class of 2026, your time at Notre Dame here on this beautiful campus has prepared you well to embrace the future with hope, in the spirit of the founders and under the protection of Mary, Mother of the Church. Your families have supported you in attaining an excellent education, and now you are called to share your gifts.
The world that opens up before you undoubtedly presents a very difficult setting. Many are the “dark clouds” that loom over it. Hope, however, has the power to penetrate these “dark clouds” with its light: “Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5).
At the beginning of the Jubilee Year 2025, Pope Francis stated that “everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring.” At the end, in his General Audience of December 20, 2025, Pope Leo XIV very clearly affirmed that the hope of the Jubilee Year does not vanish; we must continue to be pilgrims of hope. To hope in life means “to believe as certain what we still cannot see or touch, to trust and to entrust ourselves to the love of a Father who created us because he wanted us with love and wants us to be happy.” Christians are always called to communicate hope.
And how do we do that?
Hope is generative, Pope Leo says: it gives us times of birth and rebirth; it offers all of you – here and now — a time of a ‘new beginning.' Strengthened by your interdisciplinary knowledge, soft and hard skills, personal growth, you are now ready to receive whatever God has in store for you, in his infinite creativity, with joy and confidence.
This ‘new beginning’ is an opportunity to put into practice what you have learned. In whatever you do next, your actions must reflect a deep sense of reverence for the sacredness and dignity of the human person.
Hope is active. You will be witnesses of hope if you nurture a genuine desire to alleviate the poverty, injustice and oppression that burden the lives of so many in material and immaterial forms. In this way, what you achieved here on campus will rightly serve the virtue of justice.
You will be witnesses of hope, if wherever you are, you strive to create a sense of human solidarity that counteracts selfish competition and cures the “virus of individualism,” because the primary concern that drives you is the common good. Then your actions will be guided by the desire to heal what is broken, to forgive who has fallen, to create safe spaces for mutual sharing, where human fragility is embraced.
Hope is collaborative. You will be people of hope, if centered in Christ, the Principle of Communion, you embark on your “new beginning,” driven by a sincere desire to build “bridges”: bridges between humanity and God, bridges between those you meet, bridges between those who are the main players and those who are left behind, bridges between cultures, languages and personal histories, and bridges between individuals and generations.
You will be people of hope if you commit yourselves to building networks of relationships, because, as Pope Leo reminded us, “human relationships, our relationships with other people, are indispensable for each of us ... Our life begins thanks to a bond, and it is through bonds that we grow.” You will be people of hope if you commit yourselves to building community and fostering relationships of mutual trust in your social and professional lives. You will be people of hope, if you pledge to cultivate the “social friendship” that is the true foundation of peace.
You will cultivate hope if you keep nurturing personal friendships, including those you began here on campus. Through these friendships, you have grown and have been supported. You have shared hard work, challenges, expectations and desires. These types of friendships must go beyond quick text messages, reels and chats, because “the process of building fraternity, be it local or universal, can only be undertaken by spirits that are free and open to authentic encounters.”
Hope is participatory and engaging. “God involves us in his history," Pope Leo reminds us that God involves us “in his dreams.” Pilgrims of hope are patient. They are people “who walk and who wait," but not with their hands in their pockets. Sometimes they keep vigil in the night, and sometimes they know how to “shake down the thunder from the sky.” They are “fighters” for hope. They want to make a difference. They change the world right there where they live and work. They choose the common good every day, even if it means sacrificing a little security and tranquility. They dedicate their talents to something greater than themselves, because they aspire to higher ideals.
They are ready to serve and rarely complain about what goes wrong because they take things one step at a time and hold a wider horizon firmly in front of them. They keep a smile on their faces because deep down, they know it is a sign of God’s grace.
They each do their part, but they prefer to do it together, because they never walk on the road of life alone. Their path is always intertwined with others. They are made to walk together and to discover a common goal. In this way, they participate in God’s life and cooperate with Him. They know that they are not self-sufficient, but they are open to receiving help, because they know that the measure of their humanity is not defined by what they can gain, but rather by their ability to let themselves be loved.
Dear Notre Dame graduates, as you celebrate the joyful conclusion of an important chapter in your studies, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to you and your families. I now invite you to become leaders of hope. Your credibility will be the foundation of your leadership, based on the consistency between your words and your actions.
Remember Pope Leo’s message: ultimately it is only love that can grant consistency and stability to your life. First and foremost, it is the fundamental, personal experience of God’s love and then, by extension, the sacred experience of mutual love and human fraternity that compel us toward self-giving.
I urge you not to be afraid of taking risks, because Christians must fully engage with life and the history of humanity. They can overcome sloth and indifference with bravery. They are willing to seek the good and look to the future knowing that our best days are always yet to come. “Fighters” for hope are willing to work through their strengths and weaknesses to make this happen.
Dear Class of 2026,
Now is the time for you to dream, make choices and set priorities. Continue to search for more. I pray that you will “march on” and contribute to the common good, that you will move forward “strong of heart” and remain “true” to your faith, with kindness and courage. May you take responsibility for others with loyalty and integrity, and be our hope!
Thank you and God bless you all.