Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - Pope Benedict XVI was present for the ceremony to inaugurate the new academic year at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome. “I would like the entire “Cattolica” family to feel united in the eyes of God at the beginning of this new lap of its journey of scientific and formative commitment” the Pope said in his address to teachers and students gathered in the Aula Magna.
At the beginning of his address Benedict XVI recalled “the days charged with trepidation and emotion” when Pope John Paul II was admitted for the last time to the Gemelli Policlinic. “From his hospital rooms the Pope gave us all a matchless lesson on the meaning of Christian life and suffering, bearing personal witness to the truth of the Christian message”.
The Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, has five campuses and 14 faculties and about 40,000 students. Referring to the students the Pope asked “How do they leave? What culture did they find, assimilate, develop? This is the great challenge: ... to give life to a true Catholic university, one that excels for the quality of its research and teaching and, at the same time, for its faithfulness to the Gospel and to the Church's Magisterium,” underlining the validity of the University’s’ connection with the Holy See by means of the Toniolo Institute for High Studies “which anchors the University firmly to the See of Peter and the legacy of values left by the founders”.
With regard to the University’s ‘mission’ “to engage in scientific research and didactic activity following a cultural and formative programme at the service of the new generations and the human and Christian development of society”, the Pope mentioned the rich legacy of the teachings of Pope John Paul II. “He demonstrated that “Catholic” nature of the University far from being a hindrance is an asset”. “The University a great workshop in which, in keeping with the various disciplines, new lines of research are constantly being developed in a stimulating encounter between faith and reason, one that aims to recover the synthesis" between these two elements. This synthesis is "unfortunately contrasted by important currents of modern philosophy”. “As a consequence, ... the fundamental questions facing man - how to live and how to die - seem to be excluded from the realm of rationality and are left to that of subjectivity. The end result is that the question which gave rise to the university - that of truth and goodness - disappears, to be replaced by the question of feasibility. This then is the great challenge facing Catholic universities: to practice science within the horizon of a rationality different from that which dominates today, in keeping with a form of reason open to the transcendent, to God."
The Holy Father recalled that the daily work of a Catholic university must be built on a combination of faith and science: “Is this not a fascinating adventure? Yes, because moving within this horizon of meaning we discover the intrinsic unity which connects the different branches of knowledge: theology, philosophy, medicine, the economy, every discipline, even the most specialised technologies, because everything is connected”.
Lastly the Pope encouraged those present to cast their nets “into the deep sea of knowledge trusting in the word of Christ... In the vast sea of culture Christ needs "fishers of men", well prepared people of conscience who put their professional expertise at the service of the Kingdom of God”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 25/11/2005, righe 43, parole 587)
