Weekly editorial of Fr Lombardi, SJ: intelligence, faith and love
Below, please find the full text in English of the weekly editorial of the Director
of the Press Office of the Holy See, Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ.
Intelligence,Faith andLove
”Without love, science loses its nobility.
Only love guarantees the humanity of scientific research.” In this way, Pope Benedict
XVI concluded his speech Thursday morning at the Faculty of Medicine at the Catholic
University of the Sacred Heart in Rome. It was a profound and poignant response to
a widely felt need for solid and inspiring guidance.
”With a wealth of technical
means at his disposal - and almost dazzled by their effectiveness - though rather
wanting in real direction toward authentic goods, humanity today risks losing sight
of the fundamental horizon of the question of meaning.” Once again, the Pope speaks
of confidence in intelligence, of trust in reason; he speaks of Christianity as a
“religion of the Logos,” which does not relegate faith to the realm of the irrational,
but rather sees the origin and meaning of reality in the whole “creative reason”.
The union of reason and faith is a guarantee of the fertility of each, while their
separation leads to a “an impoverishment of ethics,” that makes it impossible to assess
whether what is technically possible is morally good – whether it leads to the authentic
human good.
The Pope said even more, however, for science and medical research
are so directly related to the care of the human person, that in them it becomes particularly
evident how truly necessary is the guidance of love, how truly essential is the link
between commitment to the advancement of human knowledge and passionate dedication
to the good of man – a creature who suffers and is confronted with the most radical
questions about the meaning of life. “The dedication of the intelligence and of the
heart,” therefore, “becomes a sign of God's mercy and His victory over death.”
What
stronger, more thrilling inspiration is there for every effort of the mind in favor
of humanity? At the end of the day: toward what else ought human intelligence dedicate
itself?