page 4 - Wednesday, 25 November 2009
The Pope addresses professors and students of Roman ecclesiastical universities
Christian Revelation
guiding light and transforming force
On Thursday, 19 November, in the
Vatican's Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father
spoke to the communities of the Pontifical
Universities€and Athenaeums of Rome for
the solemn inauguration of the academic
year. Those present were also greeted by
Archbishop Jean-Louis Bruguès, OP,
Secretary of the Congregation€for Catholic
Education, and by Cardinal Zenon
Grocholewski, the Dicastery's Prefect. The
following is a translation of the Pope's
Address, which was given in Italian.
Your Eminences,
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate
and in the Priesthood,
Distinguished Rectors, Academic Au-
thorities and Professors,
Dear Students, Brothers and Sisters,
I welcome you with joy and thank
you for gathering ad Petri Sedem, to be
strengthened in your important and
demanding task of teaching, study and
research at the service of the Church
and of society as a whole.
I cordially thank Cardinal Zenon
Grocholewski for his words to me in-
troducing this meeting at which we are
commemorating two special occasions:
the 30th anniversary of the Apostolic
Constitution Sapientia Christiana, pro-
mulgated on 15 April 1979 by the Ser-
vant of God John Paul II, and the
60th anniversary of the recognition by
the Holy See of the Statutes of the In-
ternational Federation of Catholic Uni-
versities (FIUC).
I am pleased to commemorate with
you€these€important€anniversaries which
give me the opportunity to highlight
once again the irreplaceable role of ec-
clesiastical faculties and Catholic uni-
versities in the Church and in society.
The Second Vatican Council clearly
stressed this in the Declaration Gravis-
simum Educationis when it urged eccle-
siastical faculties to promote research
in the various sectors of the sacred sci-
ences for an ever deeper understanding
of Revelation, in order to explore the
inheritance of Christian wisdom, to fos-
ter ecumenical and interreligious dia-
logue and to find answers to the prob-
lems that are emerging in the cultural
context (cf. n. 11).
The same conciliar Document rec-
ommended the promotion of Catholic
universities, opening them throughout
the various regions of the world and,
above all, ensuring that they maintain
a high standard in order to educate
people steeped in knowledge, ready to
witness in the world to their faith and
to undertake the responsible duties of
society (cf. n. 10).
The Council's invitation has rever-
berated throughout the Church. To-
day, in fact, there are more than 1,300
Catholic universities and about 400 ec-
clesiastical faculties, spread throughout
the continents, many of which have
been founded in recent decades; they
are proof of the increasing attention of
particular Churches to the formation
of clerics and lay people in culture and
research.
From its very first words the Apos-
tolic Constitution Sapientia Christiana,
points out the urgent, ever timely need
to bridge the gap between faith and
culture. It calls for a greater commit-
ment to evangelization in the firm con-
viction that Christian Revelation is a
transforming force, destined to perme-
ate mindsets, standards of judgement
and behavioural norms.
It is able to illuminate, purify and
renew people's morals and culture (cf.
Foreword, I, n. I), and must constitute
L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO
the focal point of teaching and re-
search, as well as the horizon that illu-
mines the nature and objective of ev-
ery ecclesiastical faculty.
In this perspective, the duty of
scholars of the sacred disciplines to
achieve, through theological research,
a more profound knowledge of the re-
vealed truth is emphasized. At the
same time, interactions with other
fields of knowledge are encouraged for
fruitful dialogue, especially in order to
Reflection on the Holy Father's Address
Study of the sacred sciences must never
be separated from prayer
MICHAEL MONSHAU, OP*
Every autumn, the Holy Father
meets with the administrators, pro-
fessors and students of the Roman
pontifical universities to inaugurate
the new academic year. This year's
event occurred late in the morning
of Thursday, 19 November, in the
Vatican's Paul VI Hall. There, the
Holy Father addressed those aca-
demic communities as well as the
general assembly attendees of the
International Federation of Catholic
Universities (FIUC).
In his address, the Pope drew in-
spiration from Pope John Paul II's
Apostolic Constitution, Sapientia
Christiana, produced thirty years
ago this year. In the spirit of Sapi-
entia Christiana, the Holy Father
urged his listeners to immerse them-
selves in the work of evangelization,
and to be constant in opposing that
which creates a chasm between
faith and culture. The Holy Father
also encouraged those gathered to-
gether that “it is important to re-
member that the study of the sacred
sciences must never be separated
from prayer, from union with God,
from contemplation... otherwise re-
make a precious contribution to the
mission the Church is called to carry
out in the world.
After 30 years, the fundamental lines
of the Apostolic Constitution Sapientia
Christiana still retain all their timeli-
ness. Indeed, in contemporary society
where knowledge is becoming ever
more specialized and compartmental-
ized but is profoundly marked by rela-
tivism, it is more necessary than ever
flection on the mysteries risks be-
coming a€vain intellectual exercise”.
Since numerous academic com-
munities were represented at this
papal event, there were necessarily
a program and an atmosphere that
communicated to the various con-
stituencies represented. The pres-
ence of the FIUC assembly partici-
pants added yet more variety to the
gathering. Nonetheless, even in this
inclusive context, the event man-
aged to embrace each participating
entity in its uniqueness.
For example, as a faculty mem-
ber of the Dominican-sponsored
Pontifical University of St Thomas
Aquinas (the “Angelicum”), even as
I conversed with professors from
other faculties whom I sensed felt
equally at home, there was much
evidence that anyone from the An-
gelicum community would find
themselves uniquely recognized and
appreciated in this gathering with
the Holy Father. The white-and-
black Dominican habit of many of
the Angelicum's friar-professors, ad-
ministrators and friar-students was
very much in evidence in every sec-
tion of the assembly hall, as was the
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
weekly edition in English - number 47
to be open to the “wisdom” that comes
from the Gospel.
The human being, in fact, is inca-
pable of fully understanding himself
and the world without Jesus Christ.
Christ alone illumines his true dignity,
his vocation and his ultimate destiny
and opens the heart to firm and lasting
hope.
Dear friends, your commitment to
serving the truth that God has re-
vealed to us is part of the evangelizing
mission that Christ has entrusted to the
Church: it is therefore an ecclesial ser-
vice. Sapientia Christiana cites in this
regard the conclusion of the Gospel ac-
cording to Matthew: “Go therefore
and make disciples of all nations, bap-
tizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I
have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20).
It is important for everyone, teachers
and students alike, never to lose sight
of the objective to be pursued, namely,
that of being an instrument for pro-
claiming the Gospel.
The years of advanced ecclesiastical
studies can be compared to the experi-
ence that the Apostles lived with Jesus:
in being with him they learned the
truth, in order to become its heralds
everywhere. At the same time, it is im-
portant to remember that the study of
the sacred sciences must never be sepa-
rated from prayer, from union with
God, from contemplation – as I re-
called in my recent Catecheses on me-
dieval monastic theology – otherwise
reflection on the mysteries risks becom-
ing a vain intellectual exercise. Every
sacred science, in the end, refers to the
“knowledge of the saints”, to their in-
tuition of the mysteries of the living
God, to wisdom, which is a gift of the
Holy Spirit and the soul of the “fides
quaerens intellectum” (cf. General Audi-
ence, 21 October 2009).
The FIUC came into being in 1924
at the initiative of several Rectors and
was recognized 25 years later by the
Holy See. Dear Rectors of Catholic
universities, the 60th anniversary of the
canonical erection of your Federation
is an especially favourable opportunity
to review its achievements and to plot
the course of its future commitments.
Celebrating an anniversary means
giving thanks to God who has guided
our footsteps, but it is also drawing
from our own history a further impetus
to renew the will to serve the Church.
In this regard, your motto is also a
programme for the Federation's future:
“Sciat ut serviat”, to know in order to
serve.
In a culture which demonstrates: “a
lack of wisdom and reflection, a lack of
thinking capable of formulating a
guiding synthesis” (Encyclical Caritas
in Veritate, n. 31), faithful to their own
identity which makes Christian inspira-
tion a defining feature, Catholic uni-
versities are called to promote a “new
humanistic synthesis” (ibid., n. 21),
knowledge that is “wisdom capable of
directing man in the light of his first
beginnings and his final ends” (ibid., n.
30), knowledge illumined by faith.
Dear friends, the service you carry
out is precious for the Church's mis-
sion. As I express to all my sincere
good wishes for the academic year that
has just begun and for the complete
success of the FIUC Assembly, I en-
trust each one of you and the institu-
tions you represent to the maternal
protection of Mary Most Holy, Seat of
Wisdom, and I gladly impart the
Apostolic Blessing to you all.