November 21, 2012 - Every week on Wednesday, the Pope holds a public meeting, called
the general audience, where pilgrims and tourists who come to Rome have a chance of
seeing and hearing him speak in several languages and receive his blessing. The
general audience of 21st Nov was held indoors in the Vatican’s Paul VI audience hall.
It began with aides reading a passage from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians,
in several languages. And aide greeted the Pope on behalf of the English speaking
pilgrims. Pope Benedict then spoke in English.
Listen: Dear
Brothers and Sisters, In our continuing catechesis for the Year of Faith,
we now consider the reasonableness of faith as an encounter with the splendour of
God’s truth. Through faith we come to true knowledge of God and ourselves, and learn
to live wisely in this world as we await the fullness of life and happiness in the
next. Faith and reason are meant to work together in opening the human mind to God’s
truth. By its nature, faith seeks understanding, while the mind’s search for truth
finds inspiration, guidance and fulfilment in the encounter with God’s revealed word.
Far from being in conflict, faith and science go hand in hand in the service of man’s
moral advancement and his wise stewardship of creation. The Gospel message of our
salvation in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, offers us a true humanism, a “grammar”
by which we come to understand the mystery of man and the universe. In this Year
of Faith, may we open our minds more fully to the light of God’s truth, which reveals
the grandeur of our human dignity and vocation. I offer a cordial greeting
to the participants in the conference on Catholic and Muslim cooperation in promoting
justice in the contemporary world. I also greet the group from CAFOD, with gratitude
for the agency’s fifty years of charitable activity on behalf of the Church in England
and Wales. Upon all present at today’s audience, including those from England, Sri
Lanka and the United States, I invoke God’s blessings!