SUMMARY:
- BENEDICT XVI TO CELEBRATE MASS IN FRASCATI
- OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
____________________________________
CULTURE
MUST REDISCOVER THE DYNAMISM OF TRANSCENDENCE
Vatican
City, 3 May 2012 (VIS) - The "Agostino Gemelli" Faculty of
Medicine and Surgery is currently celebrating its fiftieth
anniversary. To mark the occasion, the Holy Father made a visit to
Rome's Sacred Heart Catholic University this morning, where he
pronounced an address focusing on "quaerere Deum" (the
search for the absolute) in contemporary culture.
The
Pope was received by the academic authorities of the teaching
hospital, who were accompanied by Gianfranco Fini, president of the
Italian Chamber of Deputies, and by Lorenzo Ornaghi and Renato
Balduzzi, respectively ministers of culture and of health. Also
present was Cardinal Agostino Vallini, His Holiness' vicar general
for the diocese of Rome, and Cardinal Angelo Scola, archbishop of
Milan, Italy and president of the "Giuseppe Toniolo"
Institute for Higher Studies. Many students and patients gathered to
hear the Holy Father’s words, which he pronounced on an open area
in front of the hospital building.
"Ours
is a time in which the empirical sciences have transformed our view
of the world, and even man's understanding of himself", the Pope
said. "Numerous discoveries and innovative technologies ... are
a justified reason for pride, but often they are not without worrying
side effects".
"The
Europe's fruitful root of culture and progress seems to have been
forgotten; there the search for the absolute - 'quaerere Deum' - also
embraced the need to develop the profane sciences, the entire world
of knowledge. Indeed, scientific research and the demand for meaning,
each with is own specific epistemological and methodological
attributes, spring from a single source: the Logos which presided
over the work of creation and guides the course of history. A
mentality that is fundamentally technical and practical generates a
dangerous imbalance between what is technically possible and what is
morally good, with unforeseeable consequences.
"It
is therefore important for culture to rediscover the vigour of
meaning and the dynamism of transcendence. In a word, it must open
itself decisively to the horizon of 'quaerere Deum'", Benedict
XVI added. "Science and faith possess a fruitful reciprocity,
almost a complementary need to understand reality. ... Christianity,
the religion of the Logos, does not relegate faith to the field of
irrationality; rather is attributes the origin and meaning of reality
to creative Reason, which in the crucified God showed itself to be
love and which invites us to follow the path of 'quaerere Deum': 'I
am the way, the truth and the life'".
"By
following the path of faith, man is able to distinguish, even in the
reality of suffering and death which traverse his existence, an
authentic possibility for goodness and for life. ... Care for those
who suffer is, then, a daily encounter with the face of Christ, and
the dedication of mind and heart becomes a sign of God's mercy and of
His victory over death.
"Experienced
in its entirety this search is illuminated by science and faith,
drawing vigour and impetus from these two 'wings' and never losing a
due sense of humility and of its own limitations. In this way the
quest for God enriches understanding, becoming a ferment of culture,
a promoter of true humanism, a search which does not stop at the
surface. ... It is here that the irreplaceable role of the Catholic
University comes into play, a place in which education is placed at
the service of the person in order to construct an academic
competence rooted in that heritage of knowledge which the succeeding
generations have distilled into life wisdom; a place where care is
not a task, but a mission".
"The
Catholic University, which has a special relationship with the See of
Peter, is today called to be an exemplary institution which does not
limit learning to functionality and economic success, but broadens it
horizons to projects in which the gift of intelligence investigates
and develops the gifts of creation, abandoning a purely productive
and utilitarian view of existence because 'the human being is made
for gift, which expresses and makes present his transcendent
dimension'". Finally, the Pope concluded his remarks by assuring
patients at the Gemelli Hospital of his "prayers and affection".
BENEDICT
XVI TO CELEBRATE MASS IN FRASCATI
Vatican
City, 3 May 2012 (VIS) - In a communique made public today the
Prefecture of the Pontifical Household states that the Holy Father,
accepting the invitation of Bishop Raffaello Martinelli of Frascati,
will celebrate Mass in Piazza San Pietro in that Italian town on 15
July. Following the celebration the Pope will return to
Castelgandolfo where he will pray the Angelus. The announcement was
made this morning by Bishop Martinelli while celebrating the Feast of
Sts. Philip and James the Less, patron saints of that suburbicarian
diocese.
OTHER
PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican
City, 3 May 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Bishop Antoni
Dziemianko, auxiliary of Minsk-Mohilev. Belarus, as bishop of Pinsk
(area 72,700, population 3,141,000, Catholics 50,500, priests 48,
religious 78), Belarus.
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