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Pope Benedict XVI- Addresses |
Papal
Address at Belem Cultural Center
"Keep Alive the Search for Truth, and
Consequently for God"
Belem
Cultural Center in Lisbon
May 12, 2010
Dear Brother Bishops, Distinguished
Authorities,
Eminent representatives of the arts and
sciences, Dear friends,
I am very pleased to meet you, men and women
devoted to research and expansion in the
various fields of knowledge, and worthy
representatives of the rich world of culture
in Portugal. I take this occasion to express
my deep esteem and appreciation of you and
your work. The Government, represented here
by the Minister for Culture, to whom I
extend my respectful and warm greetings,
gives praiseworthy support to the national
priorities of the world of culture. I am
grateful to all those who have made this
meeting possible, particularly the Cultural
Commission of the Bishops’ Conference and
its President, Bishop Manuel Clemente, whom
I thank for his kind words of welcome and
his presentation of the multifaceted reality
of Portuguese culture, represented here by
some of its most distinguished leaders.
Their sentiments and expectations have been
expressed by film director Manoel de
Oliveira, a man venerable in years and in
professional activity, to whom I extend my
affectionate greetings and esteem. I also
thank him for his kind words, which have
given a glimpse of the concerns and the mood
of the soul of Portugal in this turbulent
period of the life of society.
Today’s culture is in fact permeated by a
"tension" which at times takes the form of a
"conflict" between the present and
tradition. The dynamic movement of society
gives absolute value to the present,
isolating it from the cultural legacy of the
past, without attempting to trace a path for
the future. This emphasis on the "present"
as a source of inspiration for the meaning
of life, both individual and social,
nonetheless clashes with the powerful
cultural tradition of the Portuguese people,
deeply marked by the millenary influence of
Christianity and by a sense of global
responsibility. This came to the fore in the
adventure of the Discoveries and in the
missionary zeal which shared the gift of
faith with other peoples. The Christian
ideal of universality and fraternity
inspired this common adventure, even though
influences from the Enlightenment and
laicism also made themselves felt. This
tradition gave rise to what could be called
a "wisdom", that is to say, an understanding
of life and history which included a corpus
of ethical values and an "ideal" to be
realized by Portugal, which has always
sought to establish relations with the rest
of the world.
The Church appears as the champion of a
healthy and lofty tradition, whose rich
contribution she sets at the service of
society. Society continues to respect and
appreciate her service to the common good
but distances itself from that "wisdom"
which is part of her legacy. This "conflict"
between tradition and the present finds
expression in the crisis of truth, yet only
truth can provide direction and trace the
path of a fulfilled existence both for
individuals and for a people. Indeed, a
people no longer conscious of its own truth
ends up by being lost in the maze of time
and history, deprived of clearly defined
values and lacking great and clearly
formulated goals. Dear friends, much still
needs to be learned about the form in which
the Church takes her place in the world,
helping society to understand that the
proclamation of truth is a service which she
offers to society, and opening new horizons
for the future, horizons of grandeur and
dignity.
The Church, in effect, has "a mission of
truth to accomplish, in every time and
circumstance, for a society that is attuned
to man, to his dignity, to his vocation. […]
Fidelity to man requires fidelity to the
truth, which alone is the guarantee of
freedom (cf. Jn 8:32) and of the possibility
of integral human development. For this
reason the Church searches for truth,
proclaims it tirelessly and recognizes it
wherever it is manifested. This mission of
truth is something that the Church can never
renounce" (Caritas in Veritate, 9). For a
society made up mainly of Catholics, and
whose culture has been profoundly marked by
Christianity, the search for truth apart
from Christ proves dramatic. For Christians,
Truth is divine; it is the eternal "Logos"
which found human expression in Jesus
Christ, who could objectively state: "I am
the truth" (Jn 14:6). The Church, in her
adherence to the eternal character of truth,
is in the process of learning how to live
with respect for other "truths" and for the
truth of others. Through this respect, open
to dialogue, new doors can be opened to the
transmission of truth.
"The Church," wrote Pope Paul VI, "must
enter into dialogue with the world in which
she lives. The Church becomes word, she
becomes message, she becomes dialogue" (Ecclesiam
Suam, 67). Dialogue, without ambiguity and
marked by respect for those taking part, is
a priority in today’s world, and the Church
does not intend to withdraw from it. A
testimony to this is the Holy See’s presence
in several international organizations, as
for example her presence at the Council of
Europe’s North-South Centre, established 20
years ago here in Lisbon, which is focused
on intercultural dialogue with a view to
promoting cooperation between Europe, the
southern Mediterranean and Africa, and
building a global citizenship based on human
rights and civic responsibility, independent
of ethnic origin or political allegiance,
and respectful of religious beliefs. Given
the reality of cultural diversity, people
need not only to accept the existence of the
culture of others, but also to aspire to be
enriched by it and to offer to it whatever
they possess that is good, true and
beautiful.
Ours is a time which calls for the best of
our efforts, prophetic courage and a renewed
capacity to "point out new worlds to the
world", to use the words of your national
poet (Luís de Camões, Os Lusíades, II, 45).
You who are representatives of culture in
all its forms, forgers of thought and
opinion, "thanks to your talent, have the
opportunity to speak to the heart of
humanity, to touch individual and collective
sensibilities, to call forth dreams and
hopes, to broaden the horizons of knowledge
and of human engagement. […] Do not be
afraid to approach the first and last source
of beauty, to enter into dialogue with
believers, with those who, like yourselves,
consider that they are pilgrims in this
world and in history towards infinite
Beauty!" (Address to Artists, 21 November
2009).
Precisely so as "to place the modern world
in contact with the life-giving and
perennial energies of the Gospel" (John
XXIII, Apostolic Constitution Humanae
Salutis, 3), the Second Vatican Council was
convened. There the Church, on the basis of
a renewed awareness of the Catholic
tradition, took seriously and discerned,
transformed and overcame the fundamental
critiques that gave rise to the modern
world, the Reformation and the
Enlightenment. In this way the Church
herself accepted and refashioned the best of
the requirements of modernity by
transcending them on the one hand, and on
the other by avoiding their errors and dead
ends. The Council laid the foundation for an
authentic Catholic renewal and for a new
civilization -- "the civilization of love"
-- as an evangelical service to man and
society.
Dear friends, the Church considers that her
most important mission in today’s culture is
to keep alive the search for truth, and
consequently for God; to bring people to
look beyond penultimate realities and to
seek those that are ultimate. I invite you
to deepen your knowledge of God as he has
revealed himself in Jesus Christ for our
complete fulfilment. Produce beautiful
things, but above all make your lives places
of beauty.
May Our Lady of Belém intercede for you, she
who has been venerated down through the
centuries by navigators, and is venerated
today by the navigators of Goodness, Truth
and Beauty.
© Copyright 2010 -- Libreria Editrice
Vaticana
[Translation by ZENIT]
Look
at the One they Pierced!
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
