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Skriven 2006-02-12 17:11:30 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service - Press Release
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                The following press release is Copyrighted by the
                          Vatican Information Service.
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                               VIS-Press releases

IN CHRIST LIES THE FULFILLMENT OF ALL HUMAN ASPIRATIONS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 10, 2006 (VIS) - This morning, Benedict XVI received
participants in the plenary assembly of the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith, telling them that in their service to the entire Church, and in
particular to bishops, they must highlight "the centrality of the Catholic
faith, in its authentic expression."

The Pope pointed out how "when the perception of this centrality diminishes,
the fabric of ecclesial life also loses its original vivacity and is damaged,
decaying into a form of sterile activism or deteriorating into mere worldly
political cunning." Yet, if the truth of faith holds a central position in
Christian life, human existence "is revived by a love that knows neither rest
nor limit."

"Jesus Christ," the Holy Father went on, "is the Truth made Flesh, Who draws
the world to Him. The light radiated by Christ is splendor of truth. All other
truths are fragments of the Truth that He is and that leads back to Him. Jesus
is the pole star of human freedom, and without Him [that freedom] loses
direction, because without knowledge of the truth freedom is distorted and
isolated, and is reduced to sterile will."

Benedict XVI highlighted the fact that Jesus Christ "attracts to Himself all
men's hearts, opening them and filling them with joy. In fact, only the truth
is capable of occupying the mind and making it fully happy." This happiness, he
went on, frees the soul from "the shackles of egoism, making it capable of
authentic love."

"Love for truth also inspires and guides the Christian approach to the modern
world, and the Church's evangelizing commitment," said the Pope. The great
advances made in the field of scientific knowledge, "have helped us better to
understand the mystery of the creation." However this progress "has sometimes
been so rapid as to make it very difficult to recognize how it can be
compatible with the truths concerning mankind and the world revealed by God. At
times, certain scientific assertions have even been opposed to such truths." On
this matter, the Pope reaffirmed the need for "deeper knowledge of the truths
discovered by reason, in the certainty that there is no cause for competition
of any kind between reason and faith."

Benedict XVI then indicated that "dialogue between faith and reason, religion
and science, offers not only the possibility of demonstrating to modern man, in
a more effective and convincing manner, the reasonableness of faith in God, but
also that of showing that in Jesus Christ lies the definitive fulfillment of
all authentic human aspirations. Thus, serious evangelizing efforts cannot
overlook the questions arising from modern scientific discoveries and
philosophical debate."

The Holy Father concluded his address by telling the members of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that "your service to the fullness
of the faith is a service to truth and, hence, to joy, a joy that comes from
the depths of the heart. ... From this viewpoint, your doctrinal ministry can
well be defined as 'pastoral.' Your service is, in fact, a service to the full
diffusion of the light of God in the world!"
AC/FAITH:REASON:TRUTH/CDF VIS 060210 (530)

SUMMARY

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