Faith and reason join to find order in universe, Pope tells scientists
November 08, 2012
Meeting on November 8 with members of the Pontifical Academy of Science, Pope Benedict XVI said that he is “convinced of the urgent need for continued dialogue and cooperation between the worlds of science and of faith in the building of a culture of respect for man, for human dignity and freedom, for the future of our human family and for the long-term sustainable development of our planet.”
Without such cooperation between faith and reason, the Pope said, “the great questions of humanity leave the domain of reason and truth, and are abandoned to the irrational, to myth, or to indifference.”
The Pope observed to the scientists—whose meeting had been devoted to a discussion of complexity in scientific research—that “the sciences are not intellectual worlds disconnected from one another and from reality but rather that they are interconnected and directed to the study of nature as a unified, intelligible and harmonious reality.” Ultimately, he said, science helps to illuminate “an ordered cosmos originating with God’s creative Word.”
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Further information:
- Urgent Need for Dialogue and Cooperation Between Science and Faith (VIS)
- Pope: The ordered complexity of the Universe (Vatican Radio)
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