Vatikan: Benedikt XVI., „Universitäten sind Laboratorien der Kultur“
Universitäten müssen
„Laboratorien der Kultur“ sein, das hat Papst Benedikt heute gegenüber Universitätsprofessoren
betont. Auf Einladung des „Rats der Europäischen Bischofskonferenzen“ (CCEE) hatten
sich Dozenten aus ganz Europa über das Thema „Ein neuer Humanismus für Europa – die
Rolle der Universitäten“ drei Tage lang in Rom ausgetauscht. Benedikt plädierte in
seiner Audienz für die etwa 2000 Teilnehmer für eine Weitung des Rationalitätsbegriffs.
Außerdem müssten die Gründe für die Krise der Moderne eingehend studiert werden. Zur
Frage, was das Christentum beitragen kann, sagte der Papst:
„Das Christentum
darf nicht reduziert werden auf eine Welt des Mythos oder der Emotion. Es muss vielmehr
respektiert werden in seinem Anspruch, Licht in die Wahrheit des Menschen zu bringen,
Männer und Frauen spirituell zu transformieren und sie so dazu zu befähigen, ihre
Berufung in der Geschichte zu verwirklichen. Erkenntnis darf niemals allein auf einen
intellektuellen Bereich beschränkt werden, sie schließt eine erneuerte Fähigkeit ein,
auf die Dinge ohne Vorurteile und Vorverständnisse zu schauen; so werden wir in die
Lage versetzt, uns von der Realität faszinieren zu lassen, dessen Wahrheit entdeckt
werden kann, wenn sich Erkenntnis und Liebe vereinigen.“
Sein Wunsch an
die Akademiker:
„Ich hoffe, dass die Universität immer mehr zu Gemeinschaften
werden, die unermüdlich die Wahrheit suchen und zu „Laboratorien der Kultur“, in denen
Professoren wie Studenten sich gemeinsam den gesellschaftlich wichtigen Themen zuwenden.
Sie sollen dabei interdisziplinäre Methoden anwenden. Si e können hier auf die Zusammenarbeit
der Theologen zählen.“
(rv 23.06.2007 mc) Lesen Sie hier die
vollständige Ansprache in Englisch:
Your Eminence, Distinguished Ladies
and Gentlemen, Dear Friends!
I am particularly pleased to receive you during
the first European Meeting of University Lecturers, sponsored by the Council of European
Episcopal Conferences and organized by teachers from the Roman universities, coordinated
by the Vicariate of Rome’s Office for the Pastoral Care of Universities. It is taking
place on the fiftieth anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which gave rise to the present
European Union, and its participants include university lecturers from every country
on the continent, including those of the Caucasus: Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
I thank Cardinal Péter Erdő, President of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences,
for his kind words of introduction. I greet the representatives of the Italian government,
particularly those from the Ministry for Universities and Research, and from the Ministry
for Italy’s Cultural Heritage, as well as the representatives of the Region of Lazio
and the Province and City of Rome. My greeting also goes to the other civil and religious
authorities, the Rectors and the teachers of the various universities, as well as
the chaplains and students present.
The theme of your meeting – “A New
Humanism for Europe. The Role of the Universities” – invites a disciplined assessment
of contemporary culture on the continent. Europe is presently experiencing a certain
social instability and diffidence in the face of traditional values, yet her distinguished
history and her established academic institutions have much to contribute to shaping
a future of hope. The “question of man”, which is central to your discussions, is
essential for a correct understanding of current cultural processes. It also provides
a solid point of departure for the effort of universities to create a new cultural
presence and activity in the service of a more united Europe. Promoting a new humanism,
in fact, requires a clear understanding of what this “newness” actually embodies.
Far from being the fruit of a superficial desire for novelty, the quest for a new
humanism must take serious account of the fact that Europe today is experiencing a
massive cultural shift, one in which men and women are increasingly conscious of their
call to be actively engaged in shaping their own history. Historically, it was in
Europe that humanism developed, thanks to the fruitful interplay between the various
cultures of her peoples and the Christian faith. Europe today needs to preserve and
reappropriate her authentic tradition if she is to remain faithful to her vocation
as the cradle of humanism.
The present cultural shift is often seen as
a “challenge” to the culture of the university and Christianity itself, rather than
as a “horizon” against which creative solutions can and must be found. As men and
women of higher education, you are called to take part in this demanding task, which
calls for sustained reflection on a number of foundational issues.
Among
these, I would mention in the first place the need for a comprehensive study of the
crisis of modernity. European culture in recent centuries has been powerfully conditioned
by the notion of modernity. The present crisis, however, has less to do with modernity’s
insistence on the centrality of man and his concerns, than with the problems raised
by a “humanism” that claims to build a regnum hominis detached from its necessary
ontological foundation. A false dichotomy between theism and authentic humanism,
taken to the extreme of positing an irreconcilable conflict between divine law and
human freedom, has led to a situation in which humanity, for all its economic and
technical advances, feels deeply threatened. As my predecessor, Pope John Paul II,
stated, we need to ask “whether in the context of all this progress, man, as man,
is becoming truly better, that is to say, more mature spiritually, more aware of the
dignity of his humanity, more responsible and more open to others” (Redemptor Hominis,
15). The anthropocentrism which characterizes modernity can never be detached from
an acknowledgment of the full truth about man, which includes his transcendent vocation.
A
second issue involves the broadening of our understanding of rationality. A correct
understanding of the challenges posed by contemporary culture, and the formulation
of meaningful responses to those challenges, must take a critical approach towards
narrow and ultimately irrational attempts to limit the scope of reason. The concept
of reason needs instead to be “broadened” in order to be able to explore and embrace
those aspects of reality which go beyond the purely empirical. This will allow for
a more fruitful, complementary approach to the relationship between faith and reason.
The rise of the European universities was fostered by the conviction that faith and
reason are meant to cooperate in the search for truth, each respecting the nature
and legitimate autonomy of the other, yet working together harmoniously and creatively
to serve the fulfilment of the human person in truth and love.
A third
issue needing to be investigated concerns the nature of the contribution which Christianity
can make to the humanism of the future. The question of man, and thus of modernity,
challenges the Church to devise effective ways of proclaiming to contemporary culture
the “realism” of her faith in the saving work of Christ. Christianity must not be
relegated to the world of myth and emotion, but respected for its claim to shed light
on the truth about man, to be able to transform men and women spiritually, and thus
to enable them to carry out their vocation in history. In my recent visit to Brazil,
I voiced my conviction that “unless we do know God in and with Christ, all of reality
becomes an indecipherable enigma” (Address to Bishops of CELAM, 3). Knowledge
can never be limited to the purely intellectual realm; it also includes a renewed
ability to look at things in a way free of prejudices and preconceptions, and to allow
ourselves to be “amazed” by reality, whose truth can be discovered by uniting understanding
with love. Only the God who has a human face, revealed in Jesus Christ, can prevent
us from truncating reality at the very moment when it demands ever new and more complex
levels of understanding. The Church is conscious of her responsibility to offer this
contribution to contemporary culture.
In Europe, as elsewhere, society urgently
needs the service to wisdom which the university community provides. This service
extends also to the practical aspects of directing research and activity to the promotion
of human dignity and to the daunting task of building the civilization of love. University
professors, in particular, are called to embody the virtue of intellectual charity,
recovering their primordial vocation to train future generations not only by imparting
knowledge but by the prophetic witness of their own lives. The university, for its
part, must never lose sight of its particular calling to be an “universitas”
in which the various disciplines, each in its own way, are seen as part of a greater
unum. How urgent is the need to rediscover the unity of knowledge and to counter
the tendency to fragmentation and lack of communicability that is all too often the
case in our schools! The effort to reconcile the drive to specialization with the
need to preserve the unity of knowledge can encourage the growth of European unity
and help the continent to rediscover its specific cultural “vocation” in today’s world.
Only a Europe conscious of its own cultural identity can make a specific contribution
to other cultures, while remaining open to the contribution of other peoples.
Dear
friends, it is my hope that universities will increasingly become communities committed
to the tireless pursuit of truth, “laboratories of culture” where teachers and students
join in exploring issues of particular importance for society, employing interdisciplinary
methods and counting on the collaboration of theologians. This can easily be done
in Europe, given the presence of so many prestigious Catholic institutions and faculties
of theology. I am convinced that greater cooperation and new forms of fellowship
between the various academic communities will enable Catholic universities to bear
witness to the historical fruitfulness of the encounter between faith and reason.
The result will be a concrete contribution to the attainment of the goals of the Bologna
Process, and an incentive for developing a suitable university apostolate in the local
Churches. Effective support for these efforts, which have been increasingly a concern
of the European Episcopal Conferences (cf. Ecclesia in Europa, 58-59), can
come from those ecclesial associations and movements already engaged in the university
apostolate.
Dear friends, may your deliberations during these days prove fruitful
and help to build an active network of university instructors committed to bringing
the light of the Gospel to contemporary culture. I assure you and your families of
a special remembrance in my prayers, and I invoke upon you, and the universities in
which you work, the maternal protection of Mary, Seat of Wisdom. To each of you I
affectionately impart my Apostolic Blessing.