Fr Lombardi, SJ: a reasonable faith

Among the many valuable things the Pope said in Germany we would like to remember one especially, which was perhaps overlooked because said it while speaking “off the cuff” at the end of his conversation with seminarians in Freiburg. Although he was speaking specifically about studying in preparation for the priesthood, the point is worth everyone’s remembering. He spoke about our “rationalistic and thoroughly scientific world.” He said that “this scientific spirit, this spirit of understanding, of explaining, of know-how, of the rejection of all that is irrational, is dominant in our time.” The Pope acknowledged that, “there is a good side to this, even if it often conceals much arrogance and nonsense.” He continued by explaining that “the faith is not a parallel world… rather it is the key that encompasses everything, gives it meaning, interprets it and also provides its inner ethical orientation: making clear that it is to be understood and lived as tending towards God and proceeding from God.”

The Holy Father concluded, saying, “Therefore it is important to be informed and to understand, to have an open mind, to learn,” and, “only in this way can we stand firm in these times and proclaim within them the logos, the reason for our faith.” We knew that the insistence on the relationship between reason and faith was one of the characteristic marks of this pontificate but rarely have we heard it explained so personally and so concretely as it was to the seminarians of Freiburg. Clearly Joseph Ratzinger the seminarian studied earnestly and intelligently; and he has continued to do so throughout his life, in order to help the whole Church give a reason for its faith (cf. 1 Pt 3:15), as today’s world so greatly desires.