Católica and APEC launch book on António de Sousa Franco and Freedom of Education
"It is a happy day when a non-statal, free and autonomous University remembers and celebrates one of the greatest figures of the Portuguese law and a great champion of freedom of education: António de Sousa Franco". This is how Isabel Capeloa Gil, President of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP), marked the launching of the book "António de Sousa Franco and the Freedom of Education", which took place at the UCP headquarters on Wednesday, 21 September, the day on which the 80th anniversary of the author's birth would have been celebrated.
António de Sousa Franco "was truly great", and was linked to the foundation of the UCP. His life was dedicated to the "unwavering defence of the freedom of teaching", so the work now published "is an important contribution to an ongoing debate, which in the prevailing environment of statism is also a battle", added the President of UCP.
With a preface by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, and gathering texts by Mário Pinto, Jorge Miranda, Marçal Grilo, Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins, Pedro Barbas Homem, and António de Sousa Franco, the book celebrates the life and the contribution of Sousa Franco for the freedom of education.
A theme that for Deacon Fernando Magalhães, President of the Portuguese Association of Catholic Schools (APEC), responsible for the launching of the book, is still "so relevant" and "has so much to accomplish". The President of APEC also recalled the legacy left by the author "particularly in the area of freedom of teaching and learning".
D. António Moiteiro highlighted Sousa Franco's reflections, which he sees as "guidelines for this vast field of education". According to the Bishop of Aveiro, it is necessary to "place the person at the centre of every educational process".
Also present at the event, Matilde Sousa Franco, wife of the honoured and member of the Scientific Society of the UCP, said that even "in more or less practical aspects" she saw in her husband "a true passion for education". She also took the opportunity to thank the UCP and the AEPC for the "beautiful tribute".
Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins took the opportunity to remember his friend, "a master, a teacher of life", remembering: "it is fundamental to return to his word" and reflection. "A reflection enriched by the long walks there by Rua Pedro Nunes, where we would go to visit him and be impressed by the mountains of books that seemed almost to be toppling over."
The session that paid tribute to the life and work of António de Sousa Franco, and the still very current struggle for freedom of education, included the participation of the choirs of the Colégio Sagrado Coração de Maria and the Universidade Católica, and a minute's silence was dedicated in memory of the author.