Sophia Magazine vol.7 / SUMMER 2018

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Campus NewsOn December 14, 2017, Sophia University welcomed António Guterres on his rst visit to Japan in his capacity as Secretary-General of the United Nations. With the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations In-formation Centre, he headlined a special lecture on cam-pus entitled “Global Challenges: The Role of Human Secu-rity.” The venue was full to overowing with more than 600 attendees. In his lecture, the Secretary-General emphasized the im-portance of the human security concept in addressing the global threats and challenges facing the international com-munity today. Human security, he explained, is a unifying concept for countries and actors, making it highly effective in promoting shared progress in such areas as conict pre-vention, sustainable development, and sustainable peace-making. He insisted that now was the time for United Na-tions Member States, and the international community as a whole, to come up with strategies and action plans based on the concept of creating better economic, social, and political conditions that can address global threats and challenges. Following the lecture, the Secretary-General spoke with around 30 students from 13 Japanese universities afliated with the United Nations Academic Impact program. A spir-ited discussion with the students covered subjects ranging from the role of the United Nations, to the North Korean nu-clear threat and various conicts around the world.Over 700 Sophiaites, including students, faculty mem-bers, and staffers, gathered on December 18, 2017, for a special event titled “Let’s Speak to Pope Francis.” Students put questions to the Pope live over a video link, which was also broadcast simultaneously via YouTube.Pope Francis is the rst pope to have been a member of the Society of Jesus, the founding organization of Sophia University. The Pope’s positive response to a request from Fr. Juan Haidar, S.J., Professor of Faculty of Theology, with whom he has personal ties from their time together at In-maculada Concepcion Seminary in Argentina, made such an event possible. It was the rst time that a pope has en-gaged in dialogue with a Japanese university in this way, and as an initiative of Sophia University the event gained great attention globally.From around a hundred questions for the Pope received in advance, eight questions were chosen from attendees, ranging from high school to graduate students, including one from Myanmar. For the nervous questioners, the Pope carefully answered each query one by one, enjoying him-self and displaying a sense of humor as he engaged with his audience.To close the event, attendees sang the Christmas carol “Angels We Have Heard on High,” along with “Happy Birth-day” in Spanish to celebrate the Pope’s 81st birthday that coincidentally fell on the day before this event.United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres Visits Sophia#01Sophia Students Engage with Pope Francisin Video Chat#023