“To impart to ecclesiastical studies that wise and courageous renewal demanded by the missionary transformation of a Church that ‘goes forth’”. This is the main goal of the Apostolic Constitution “Veritatis Gaudium” on ecclesiastical universities and faculties, released today. Ecclesiastical studies, the document issued by the Pope reads, play a “strategic role” in the context of the “resolute process of discernment, purification and reform” called for in the Evangelii Gaudium: the Pontiff calls them a “providential cultural laboratory” which is “essential for a Church that ‘goes forth’”, from “the sensus fidei fidelium to the magisterium of the bishops, and from the charism of the prophets to that of the doctors and theologians”. According to Pope Francis, in the “epochal shift” we are experiencing, we need “leadership capable of striking out on new paths” so as to address the “anthropological”, social and “environmental crises” exposed in the Encyclical Laudato Si’.