New Study Programme Announced for 2026-27
Inauguration of the Sophia University Institute a.y. 2025-26
The university based in Loppiano, an international citadel of the Focolare Movement, is launching a Bachelor’s Degree in “Philosophy and Human Sciences” and a Licentiate in “Philosophy, Economy of Communion, and the Environment”.
We have reached a turning point. After a strongly prophetic initial phase, the time has come for that vision to take deeper roots in global academic structures, so that it can be truly transformative».
This is how Rector Declan O’Byrne began his speech inaugurating the 2025-26 academic year of the Sophia University Institute of Loppiano (Figline e Incisa Valdarno – Florence). The ceremony, which took place on Friday, January 16, 2026, in the Auditorium of the Focolare International Citadel, was the occasion to officially present the new academic offerings, starting in October 2026: the Bachelor’s in “Philosophy and Human Sciences”, the Licentiate in “Philosophy, Economics of Communion and the Environment”, and the choice of philosophy as the cornerstone of the new study programme, launched in collaboration with the University of Perugia.
He continued: «Our Bachelor’s in “Philosophy and Human Sciences” aims to be a cultural laboratory that considers the student as a whole person: rational, emotional, relational, and spiritual. The Licentiate in “Philosophy, Economics of Communion and the Environment”, however, responds to a social and ecological urgency. It is not about adding an ethical corrective. It is a matter of radically rethinking economics in light of relationships, reciprocity, and care for our common home of creation.»
Hence the centrality of philosophy in the new academic offering. «We live in an age of fragmented knowledge – O’Byrne explained –. Artificial intelligence processes data, but fails to grasp its meaning. The job market rewards sectoral skills but often leaves people without a compass of meaning. Philosophy is the place where these questions can be rigorously addressed. It is the space in which to seek the unity of knowledge.»
The collaboration with the University of Perugia will give Sophia students the opportunity to earn an Italian degree in addition to the pontifical one, for both the Licentiate and the Bachelor’s degrees.
Marco Moschini, Director of the Department of Philosophy, Social and Human Sciences, and Education at the Umbrian University, confirmed: «On December 17th, the Department Council unanimously approved the activation of two double degrees. The Rector has assured me that they are on the agenda for January 26 to be accepted by the Academic Senate. I am very happy that this collaboration is being strengthened, renewed, and rebuilt. In a time of transformation and division, the academic world needs to demonstrate that, in the midst of disintegration, unity is a value; that in times of violence, only dialogue and encounter can build thoughts and paths of peace».
Inaugural speeches
During the ceremony, opening remarks were also offered by the Grand Chancellor, Metropolitan Archbishop of Florence Gherardo Gambelli; the Vice Grand Chancellor, Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement; and Candela Copparoni, Student body representative.
His Excellency Gherardo Gambelli emphasized the importance of continuing to «form men and women capable of living within reality, imbued with a wisdom that flows from a great certainty: the love of God.» Because, he added: «Only from the concrete experience of this light can that “new” culture truly needed by humanity today emerge: a “culture of relationships.”»
Vice Grand Chancellor Margaret Karram, after expressing her gratitude to all the Institute’s professors and staff, addressed the students directly, saying: «Sophia was created for you and walks with you: seize this opportunity! We live in complex times, marked by environmental crises, conflicts, inequalities, and technological transformations. The world needs people who know how to think, communicate, and build bridges. It needs expertise and values, professionalism and humanity. The knowledge you find here is open to dialogue, collaboration, and peace.»
Candela Capparoni, representing the students, defined the Sophia University Institute as a «school of relationships,» which one arrives at «with the motivation to open one’s mind and broaden one’s horizons, to sow our energies in environments that give meaning to our lives and that will then bear fruit in who knows what part of the planet, to embark on projects that change the world, the way we relate and act, to find the right path, perhaps personalized, unique, and possible.»
“Forming humanity in a changing world”
The inaugural lecture, entitled “Philosophy and Relational Wisdom: Educating humanity in a changing world” and entrusted to prof. Giuseppe D’Anna, Director of the Department of Philosophy at the Catholic University of Milan, highlighted the importance of philosophy and relational wisdom «for educating humanity in an era that can transform them into processes, modules, and market functions.» The integration of knowledge, as experienced at Sophia,
today becomes a guarantee of anti-reductionism. […] Only a transdisciplinary education project, capable of integrating formal sciences, empirical sciences, human sciences, and philosophical reflection, can prevent AI from becoming the exclusive paradigm for understanding human intelligence, action, and identity».