Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - At midday on Monday November, the Pope received participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, headed by the president of that institution, Nicola Cabibbo. They have been meeting to consider the theme: "Predictability in Science: Accuracy and Limitations." Addressing his audience in English, the Holy Father observed how some people "have seen in the progress of modern science and technology one of the main causes of secularization and materialism... Christianity does not posit an inevitable conflict between supernatural faith and scientific progress.… If we think, for example, of how modern science, by predicting natural phenomena, has contributed to the protection of the environment, the progress of developing nations, the fight against epidemics, and an increase in life expectancy, it becomes clear that there is no conflict between God’s providence and human enterprise. Indeed, we could say that the work of predicting, controlling and governing nature, which science today renders more practicable than in the past, is itself a part of the Creator’s plan.”
The Holy Father said “Man cannot place in science and technology so radical and unconditional a trust as to believe that scientific and technological progress can explain everything and completely fulfil all his existential and spiritual needs”. The Pope highlighted the question of the scientist’s “ethical responsibilities. His conclusions must be guided by respect for truth and an honest acknowledgment of both the accuracy and the inevitable limitations of the scientific method”. This means avoiding “needlessly alarming predictions” and also silence in the face of authentic problems.
“Dear Academicians, our world continues to look to you and your colleagues for a clear understanding of the possible consequences of many important natural phenomena” said Pope Benedict XVI recalling continuing threats to the environment which are affecting whole peoples, and the urgent need to discover safe, alternative energy sources “available to all”. And the Pope added: “Scientists will find support from the Church in their efforts to confront these issues, since the Church has received from her divine founder the task of guiding people’s consciences towards goodness, solidarity and peace. Precisely for this reason she feels in duty bound to insist that science’s ability to predict and control must never be employed against human life and its dignity, but always placed at its service, at the service of this and future generations.”.
The Pope said scientific method is limited and “cannot, therefore, presume to provide a complete, deterministic representation of our future and of the development of every phenomenon that it studies”. Philosophy and theology “might make an important contribution to this fundamentally epistemological question”.
The Pope concluded: “At the same time, there is a higher level that necessarily transcends all scientific predictions, namely, the human world of freedom and history. Whereas the physical cosmos can have its own spatial-temporal development, only humanity, strictly speaking, has a history, the history of its freedom. Freedom, like reason, is a precious part of God’s image within us, and it can never be reduced to a deterministic analysis. Its transcendence vis-à-vis the material world must be acknowledged and respected, since it is a sign of our human dignity. Denying that transcendence in the name of a supposed absolute ability of the scientific method to predict and condition the human world would involve the loss of what is human in man, and, by failing to recognize his uniqueness and transcendence, could dangerously open the door to his exploitation”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 7/11/2006 - Righe 41, parole 600)
