Pope Benedict XVI in Croatia - Meeting with civil society representatives
Below is the full text of Pope Benedict XVI’s discourse at a meeting with representatives
of Croatia’s civil society at the National Theatre of Zagreb:
Mr President,
Dear Cardinals, Brother Bishops, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Brothers
and Sisters,
I am very glad that the first engagement of my visit should be
with you, representing as you do key sectors of Croatian society and the Diplomatic
Corps. My cordial greetings go to each of you personally and also to the important
communities to which you belong: religious, political, academic and cultural, the
world of the arts, finance and sport. I thank Archbishop Puljić and Professor Zurak
for the kind words they have addressed to me, and I thank the musicians who have welcomed
me in the universal language of music. This dimension of universality, characteristic
of art and culture, is particularly appropriate for Christianity and the Catholic
Church. Christ is fully human, and whatever is human finds in him and in his word
the fulness of life and meaning. This splendid theatre is a symbolic place, expressive
of your national and cultural identity. For me to come together with you in this
place is a further cause of joy in spirit, because the Church is a mystery of communion
and always rejoices in communion, in the richness of diversity. The participation
of representatives from other Churches and Christian communities, as well as the Jewish
and Muslim religions, helps remind us that religion is not a separate area marked
off from society. Rather, it is a natural element within society, constantly recalling
the vertical dimension: attentive listening to God as the condition for seeking the
common good, for seeking justice and reconciliation in the truth. Religion places
man in relation with God, the Creator and Father of all, and must therefore be a force
for peace. Religions need always to be purified according to their true essence in
order to correspond to their true mission. Here I would like to introduce the
main topic of my brief reflection: the theme of conscience. This cuts across all
the different fields in which you are engaged and it is fundamental for a free and
just society, both at national and supranational levels. Naturally, I think of Europe,
to which Croatia has always belonged on the historical and cultural plane, and which
it is now about to enter on the political and institutional level. Truly, the great
achievements of the modern age – the recognition and guarantee of freedom of conscience,
of human rights, of the freedom of science and hence of a free society – should be
confirmed and developed while keeping reason and freedom open to their transcendent
foundation, so as to ensure that these achievements are not undone, as unfortunately
happens in not a few cases. The quality of social and civil life and the quality
of democracy depend in large measure on this “critical” point – conscience, on the
way it is understood and the way it is informed. If, in keeping with the prevailing
modern idea, conscience is reduced to the subjective field to which religion and morality
have been banished, then the crisis of the West has no remedy and Europe is destined
to collapse in on itself. If, on the other hand, conscience is rediscovered as the
place in which to listen to truth and good, the place of responsibility before God
and before fellow human beings – in other words, the bulwark against all forms of
tyranny – then there is hope for the future. I am grateful to Professor Zurak for
reminding us of the Christian roots of many of the cultural and academic institutions
of this country, as indeed all over the European Continent. We need to be reminded
of these origins, not least for the sake of historical truth, and it is important
that we understand these roots properly, so that they can feed the present day too.
It is crucial to grasp the inner dynamic of an event such as the birth of a university,
of an artistic movement, or of a hospital. It is necessary to understand the why
and the how of what took place, in order to recognize the value of this dynamic in
the present day, as a spiritual reality that takes on a cultural and therefore a social
dimension. At the heart of all these institutions are men and women, persons, consciences,
moved by the power of truth and good. Some examples have been quoted, from among
the famous sons and daughters of this land. I would like to single out Father Ruđer
Josip Bošković, a Jesuit born in Dubrovnik three hundred years ago on 18 May 1711.
He is a good illustration of the happy symbiosis of faith and scholarship, each stimulating
the other through research that is at the same time open, diversified and capable
of synthesis. His principal work, Theoria philosophiae naturalis, which was published
in Vienna and later in Venice in the mid 18th century, bears a highly significant
sub-title: redacta ad unicam legem virium in natura existentium, that is, “according
to the one law of the forces existing in nature”. In Bošković, there is analysis,
there is study of multiple branches of knowledge, but there is also a passion for
unity. This is typical of Catholic culture. Hence, the foundation of a Catholic
University in Croatia is a sign of hope. I trust that it will help to foster unity
among the various fields of contemporary culture, the values and the identity of your
people, lending continuity to the fruitful contribution of the Church to the history
of the noble Croatian Nation. To return to Father Bošković, the experts say that
his theory of “continuity”, which holds true both in the natural sciences and in geometry,
accords well with some of the great discoveries of modern physics. What are we to
say? Let us pay tribute to the illustrious Croat, but also to the true Jesuit; let
us pay tribute to the cultivator of truth who knows how far the truth surpasses him,
but who also knows, in the light of truth, how to engage fully the resources of reason
with which he has been endowed by God himself. As well as paying tribute, however,
we must learn to appreciate the method, the mental openness of these great men. This
brings us back to conscience as the keystone on which to base a culture and build
up the common good. It is by forming consciences that the Church makes her most specific
and valuable contribution to society. It is a contribution that begins in the family
and is strongly reinforced in the parish, where infants, children and young people
learn to deepen their knowledge of the sacred Scriptures, the “great codex” of European
culture; at the same time they learn what it means for a community to be built upon
gift, not upon economic interests or ideology, but upon love, “the principal driving
force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity” (Caritas
in Veritate, 1). This logic of gratuitousness, learnt in infancy and adolescence,
is then lived out in every area of life, in games, in sport, in interpersonal relations,
in art, in voluntary service to the poor and the suffering, and once it has been assimilated
it can be applied to the most complex areas of political and economic life so as to
build up a polis that is welcoming and hospitable, but at the same time not empty,
not falsely neutral, but rich in humanity, with a strongly ethical dimension. It
is here that the lay faithful are called to give generously of the formation they
have received, guided by the principles of the Church’s Social Doctrine, for the sake
of authentic secularism, social justice, the defence of life and of the family, freedom
of religion and education. Distinguished friends, your presence here and Croatia’s
cultural tradition have prompted these brief reflections. I offer them to you as
a mark of my esteem and above all of the Church’s desire to walk in the midst of this
people in the light of the Gospel. I thank you for your attention, and from my heart
I bless all of you, all those you love and all that you do.