Revelation offers a standard for judging knowledge, Pope tells scholars

November 19, 2009

Catholic universities, uniting faith and reason, should provide the world with "wisdom capable of directing man in the light of his first beginnings and his final ends," Pope Benedict XVI told a group of students and faculty at the pontifical universities during a private audience on November 19. Such wisdom is necessary today, in "a culture which reveals a lack of wisdom and reflection, a lack of thinking capable of formulating a guiding synthesis," he added.

The Pope said that Christian revelation offers scholars a standard for judging the value of knowledge, at a time when scholarly work is "ever more specialized and sectorial, but is profoundly marked by relativism." He reminded the students and professors that Jesus Christ alone offers the answer to all of man's questions, and furnishes the Light by which the truth is revealed.

The Holy Father cautioned that revelation offers reliable insights only to those who search the truth from a perspective of faith, and "the the study of the sacred sciences must never be separated from prayer, from union with God, from contemplation."

 

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Further information:

• Promoting a Knowledge Illuminated by Faith (VIS)