2010-01-30 13:24:09

The Holy Father’s General Intention for the month of February


(January 30, 2010) Scholars: That scholars and intellectuals, by sincere search for the truth, may come to know the one true God.
Pope John Paul II wrote of faith and reason as the two wings by which the human spirit can find truth. Himself a prominent scholar, Pope Benedict XVI laments the trend toward relativism among today's intellectuals. He asks us to pray this month that intellectuals will seek truth sincerely and, by so doing, come to know God. The union of Christian faith and classical reason, the Pope has said, led to the flourishing of the gospel in the first and second millennia. Faith and reason worked together as scholars and scientists expanded the world's knowledge. They built an intellectual tradition on the idea that all truth is God's truth. But that view of truth has weakened in our secular age. The relativism the Holy Father deplores holds that truth is not absolute, but is only true for some people some of the time. Under relativism, truth is no longer objective like a hard fact of physics or math, but is subjective, personal and changeable, like a feeling. Pope Benedict says that relativistic scholars tend toward partial and temporary conclusions. Relativists tend to assign the same importance to every idea and be swayed by what is fashionable, convenient, or well-funded. Meanwhile humans yearn for truth, "and it is to this yearning that religious faith, the various arts, philosophy, theology, and other scientific disciplines, each with its own method, should seek to respond." We pray that scholars and teachers will again seek truth and come to know the one true God.







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