As we begin the much-appreciated time off that the summer break offers, it is important to give thanks, reflect, and rest.

Thanks for your daily commitment to Católica's mission and vision of building a more dignified and sustainable society through education and science. 

To reflect and remember the moments of the past academic year. Above all, to recall the luminous words of the Holy Father on August 3, 2023, at our Headquarters: 'One of Jesus' parables uses the example of a pearl of great price, which is sought and found only by the wise and resourceful, by those ready to give their all and risk everything they have in order to obtain it (cf. Mt 13:45-46). To seek and to risk: these are the two words that describe the journey of pilgrims.'

To seek and to risk are guidelines for those in search of scientific truth, they are guidelines for a university that is innovative and therefore inevitably restless. Only in this way can we form choreographers and entrepreneurs of dreams, as Pope Francis challenges us to do. 

May this rich moment in our history also inspire us in the next academic year and always in our life journey.

And because creating dreams also requires time to rest, may this summer break be an opportunity for everyone to give themselves time and renew their gaze on the endless richness of our world. From the seaside to the mountains, happy summer holidays!

Isabel Capeloa Gil

President

Please note: Universidade Católica Portuguesa will be open with all services in operation until August 12th (closing date in Braga and Porto) and August 16th (closing date at the Headquarters and Viseu). In Porto, the Candidates' Shop remains open to welcome all candidates, as well as some spaces in the Centre for Biotechnology and Fine Chemistry (CBQF). In Braga, the Support Services and the Car Park will also be operating. Find out more here.

The President of UCP, Isabel Capeloa Gil, was one of the personalities invited to the 2nd edition of the Forbes Women's Summit, and was one of the most applauded during the afternoon session at the Time Out Studio in Lisbon.

In the panel ‘The Power of Leadership - Ask the President’, shared with Foundever's General Manager Multilingual Region, Benedita Miranda, Isabel Capeloa Gil said that one of the differentiating factors of female leadership is ‘not wanting to imitate other models’.

‘Female leadership makes a difference if we dare to believe in our difference,’ said the UCP President, who is also the first woman to lead the International Federation of Catholic Universities (FIUC).

Emphasising that ‘a thousand years after the creation of the first Universities, especially in terms of top leadership, the Academy is still mostly male’, Isabel Capeloa Gil revealed that the FIUC is working on a policy document with the aim of asking all the Presidents, Rectors and Vice-Rectors of Catholic Universities to commit to ‘promoting women, in order to achieve parity in the Institutions’.

Currently, only 8 per cent of the Presidents, Rectors or Vice-Chancellors of Catholic Universities in the world are women, and the President of the FIUC since 2018 has been Isabel Capeloa Gil.

In the year in which she is the only Portuguese woman to appear on the Forbes 50 over 50 list, Isabel Capeloa Gil also left a challenge - which earned her an ovation from the room - when she was asked about the difficulty of reconciling personal and professional life: ‘We will only have a truly egalitarian society when this question is also asked of men. We're constantly talking about this issue of reconciliation, men are also fathers, they both have children, we need to ask the question of fathers too.’

The 2nd Forbes Women's Summit: ‘The Power of Difference’ took place at Time Out Market in Lisbon and brought together leaders and agents of change to discuss the challenges and opportunities for the effective implementation of gender equality (of conditions and opportunities) in Portugal, emphasising the power of women on this path.

To the UCP Academic Community,

In the Christian calendar, Easter presents the ultimate example of God's love for humanity. It is also a particular moment of renewal and reconciliation. In a catholic university, the celebration of Easter is a renewed occasion to point out the university's responsibility for the development of society, for the promotion of social solidarity, for growth frameworks that foster greater integration and less inequality, for the defence of peace and social cohesion. 

At UCP we promote the spirit of Easter reconciliation in the countless voluntary activities we promote, whenever we integrate country missions and community intervention initiatives, but also when we stimulate service learning, when we produce science that improves the human condition and the planet, when we creatively reinvent our habitat.

Faced with the enormous contradictions in today's societies and the spread of war, the university's mission to uphold people's dignity is becoming increasingly important. The challenge facing us is to use the immense arsenal of knowledge and creativity that we have gathered to form ethically and intellectually the rich and diverse reality of our students from more than 108 countries with different cultures and different religious options, to promote the academic fulfilment of the UCP's incredible professors and researchers and the professional growth of our collaborators. 

May the Easter renewal bring you and your families a renewed sense of purpose and communion. Only in this way will we win the future! Happy Easter!

Isabel Capeloa Gil,
President