Pope, writing in secular newspaper, urges dialogue with nonbelievers
Vatican City, 12 September 2013: Writing in one of Italy's major secular newspapers,
Pope Francis called for a "sincere and rigorous dialogue" between the church and nonbelievers
as an "intimate and indispensable expression" of Christian love.
The pope's
words appeared in a 2,600-word letter published in the Sept. 11 edition of the Rome
daily La Repubblica, in reply to recent articles by Eugenio Scalfari, a co-founder
and former editor-in-chief of the newspaper.
An "open and unprejudiced dialogue"
between Christians and those of no religious faith is "rightful and precious" today
for at least two reasons, Pope Francis wrote.
Such a dialogue could "open doors
for a serious and fertile encounter" between secular culture and Christian culture,
which have lost the ability to communicate due largely to modern views of faith as
the "darkness of superstition opposed to the light of reason."
In fact, the
pope wrote, the impulse toward communication springs out of the very nature of Christian
faith. "Since it is born of love," he wrote, quoting his own encyclical "Lumen Fidei,"
"faith is not intransigent, but grows in respectful coexistence with others. ... Far
from making us inflexible, the security of faith sets us on a journey; it enables
witness and dialogue with all."
This loving quality of faith offers a path
of dialogue with skeptics, despite modern ideas of truth as "relative and subjective."
"I would not speak, not even for a believer, of 'absolute' truth, in the sense of
absolute as disconnected, lacking any relationship," the pope wrote. "Truth, according
to Christian faith, is the love of God for us in Jesus Christ. Therefore truth is
a relationship.
"This does not mean that truth is variable and subjective --
on the contrary," he wrote. "But it means that truth is given to us always and only
as a path and a life. ... In other words, truth being after all one in the same as
love, it requires humility and openness in order to be sought, welcomed and expressed."
Asked
whether the church condemns those who lack and do not seek religious faith, the pope
replied that the "mercy of God is unlimited if directed to someone with a sincere
and contrite heart."
"The question for someone who does not believe in God
lies in obeying one's own conscience," he wrote. "Sin exists, even for one who does
not have faith, when one goes against conscience. To listen to and obey it means,
in fact, to choose between what one perceives as good or as bad. And on this choice
is staked the good or evil of our action." In his letter, Pope Francis also distinguished
the proper roles of the "religious sphere and the political sphere" of society. It
is extremely rare for a pope to contribute to a secular newspaper. In December 2012,
Britain's Financial Times published an article on the meaning of Christmas by Pope
Benedict XVI. Source: CNS