Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Prague (Agenzia Fides) – At 6pm on Sunday, September 27, the Holy Father Benedict XVI met with members of the Academic Community in the Prague Castle. Present at the encounter were leaders of the universities of the Czech Republic, as well as a representation of professors and students and members of Cultural Institutions of the State and the Catholic Church. The President of the Czech Republic was also present at the meeting.
“The service of academia, upholding and contributing to the cultural and spiritual values of society, enriches the nation’s intellectual patrimony and strengthens the foundations of its future development,” the Holy Father said in his address, recalling that he had been “a professor, solicitous of the right to academic freedom and the responsibility for the authentic use of reason.” He continued: “While some argue that the questions raised by religion, faith and ethics have no place within the purview of collective reason, that view is by no means axiomatic. The freedom that underlies the exercise of reason – be it in a university or in the Church – has a purpose: it is directed to the pursuit of truth, and as such gives expression to a tenet of Christianity which in fact gave rise to the university. Indeed, man’s thirst for knowledge prompts every generation to broaden the concept of reason and to drink at the wellsprings of faith. It was precisely the rich heritage of classical wisdom, assimilated and placed at the service of the Gospel, which the first Christian missionaries brought to these lands and established as the basis of a spiritual and cultural unity which endures to this day.”
Benedict XVI then highlighted that “the proper autonomy of a university, or indeed any educational institution, finds meaning in its accountability to the authority of truth. Nevertheless, that autonomy can be thwarted in a variety of ways. The great formative tradition, open to the transcendent, which stands at the base of universities across Europe, was in this land, and others, systematically subverted by the reductive ideology of materialism, the repression of religion and the suppression of the human spirit.” And yet “the yearning for freedom and truth is inalienably part of our common humanity. It can never be eliminated; and, as history has shown, it is denied at humanity’s own peril. It is to this yearning that religious faith, the various arts, philosophy, theology and other scientific disciplines, each with its own method, seek to respond, both on the level of disciplined reflection and on the level of a sound praxis.”
Addressing the distinguished Rectors and Professors, the Holy Father reminded them of their responsibility “enlightening the minds and hearts of the young men and women of today. This grave duty is of course not new...once young people’s understanding of the fullness and unity of truth has been awakened, they relish the discovery that the question of what they can know opens up the vast adventure of how they ought to be and what they ought to do.”
The Pope has highlighted the need to regain “the idea of an integrated education, based on the unity of knowledge grounded in truth...It serves to counteract the tendency, so evident in contemporary society, towards a fragmentation of knowledge.” “What will happen if our culture builds itself only on fashionable arguments, with little reference to a genuine historical intellectual tradition, or on the viewpoints that are most vociferously promoted and most heavily funded? What will happen if in its anxiety to preserve a radical secularism, it detaches itself from its life-giving roots? Our societies will not become more reasonable or tolerant or adaptable but rather more brittle and less inclusive, and they will increasingly struggle to recognize what is true, noble and good.”
In the concluding part of his speech, Benedict XVI revisited the theme of mending of the breach between science and religion, which was a central concern of his predecessor Pope John Paul II. “An understanding of reason that is deaf to the divine and which relegates religions into the realm of subcultures, is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures that our world so urgently needs... This confidence in the human ability to seek truth, to find truth and to live by the truth led to the foundation of the great European universities. Surely we must reaffirm this today in order to bring courage to the intellectual forces necessary for the development of a future of authentic human flourishing, a future truly worthy of man.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 28/9/2009)
