On 23 November, the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences (FFCS) of the Portuguese Catholic University (UCP) - Braga, hosted the Solemn Blessing and Awarding of Diplomas to the graduates of the 2023-2024 academic year.

The session, chaired by Canon Luís Miguel Rodrigues, representing the Primate Archbishop of Braga, Dom José Cordeiro; the Vice-Rector of UCP, Isabel Vasconcelos; the Pro-Rector of UCP Braga, Paulo Dias; and the Director of FFCS, Bruno Nobre, was attended by more than a hundred graduating students, accompanied by their families.

The Pro-Rector opened the session by welcoming the students and their families and stressed the importance of the ceremony, which not only celebrates ‘the conclusion of an important stage in the academic life of our students, but also the materialisation of the values and principles that define the identity of the Portuguese Catholic University’. Paulo Dias ended his opening speech by wishing that the dream of the new graduates ‘really begins here’.

Representing the graduating students, Domingos Perloiro, a recent Philosophy graduate, shared his academic journey and spoke about how he found the answer to his questions at UCP and in the Society of Jesus.

In her speech, the Vice-Rector of UCP, Isabel Vasconcelos, highlighted several award-winning projects from the Braga Campus and reinforced the idea that ‘university education is much more than the transmission of technical knowledge. It's a transformative process that instils curiosity and broadens horizons’.

At the end of the session, Canon Luís Miguel Rodrigues read the message that Dom José Cordeiro left for the graduates of UCP Braga, in which he recalled that the ‘diploma is a symbol of a journey, an effort and growth as human beings’. He ended by saying that the next step for the students was to ‘combine theoretical knowledge with the practical knowledge that is acquired on a daily basis’.