The Brittle World – Stable Compass: The Holy See’s Educational Guidelines in a Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible World

Abstract

This study examines the Holy See’s educational guidelines within a global context described by contemporary diagnostic frameworks such as the VUCA model and, in particular, the BANI model. It is grounded in the recognition that the educational and formative environment of the 21st century is increasingly brittle, anxiety-laden, un­predictable, and incomprehensible, posing fundamental challenges to Catholic public education. Through an analysis of the Global Catholic Education Reports (2020-2023), the study illustrates how these challenges manifest in the areas of financing, human resources, institutional identity, and the mental well-being of both educators and stu­dents. The central argument of the study is that the Catholic response is not primarily technical in nature, but rests on theological and anthropological foundations: a strong sense of mission and identity, synodality, the understanding of community as a ped­agogical space, and the theological virtue of hope together offer a stable “compass” capable of providing orientation amid the uncertainties of the BANI world. In this perspective, Catholic education does not merely react to crisis phenomena but inter­prets them as a missionary opportunity, understanding education itself as the drawing of new “maps” of hope.