On Saturday, Pope Benedict traveled across town to officially open the school year at the Pontifical Lateran University.
His remarks, faithfully translated by Teresa Benedetta at PRF:
He spoke, naturally, of the academic life, reminding his listeners that the point is Truth:
Indeed, the University safeguards the wealth of tradition that remains alive through the centuries – and the Library is an essential instrument for this preservation of tradition. In such traditions, we find illustrated the fecundity of truth when it is grasped in its authenticity by minds that are open and simple.
The university educates the new generations who expect to be challenged with serious and demanding propositions capable of responding in new contexts to the perennial question about the sense of one’s existence. This expectation should not be disappointed.
The contemporary context seems to give primacy to a sort of ‘artificial’ intelligence which becomes more and more overshadowed by experimental technique, thereby forgetting that every science must safeguard man and promote his reaching out towards authentic goodness.
To overvalue “doing” instead of “being” upsets the fundamental equilibrium which everyone needs in order to give one’s life a firm foundation and a valid purpose. Every man is called on to make sense of his own behavior, especially when faced with a scientific discovery that affects the very essence itself of personal life.
To allow onself to indulge in the appetite for discovery without keeping in mind the criteria which derive from a more profound vision would make us fall easily into the tragedy that we know from ancient myth.
The young Icarus, consumed by the desire to fly towards absolute liberty, heedless of the warnings from his old father Daedalus, poroceeded to get closer to the sun, forgetting that the wings with which he rose were made of wax. He paid for his illusion with his ruinous fall and death.
This ancient fable has perennial value. In life there are many illusions that we must not trust without risking disastrous consequences for our own existence and that of others.
The university professor has the task not only of investigating the truth and to arouse contnuous wonder before it, but also to promote knowledge of it in every facet and to defend it from reductive and distorted interpretations.
To place the truth at the center of our consideration is not a merely speculative act restricted to a few thinkers. On the contrary, it is a vital element that gives profundity to our personal life and alerts us to our responsibilites in our social relations.
In fact, if one dismisses the question of truth and the concrete possibility for every person to reach it, life becomes reduced to a handful of hypotheses without any sure references.
The famous humanist Erasmus said: “Opinions are sources of satisfaction that can be had cheaply! But to learn the true essence of things, even if these are of minimum importance, costs great effort.” (In praise of folly, XL VII).
Now. What do you think of the Reuters version?
Pope Benedict told scientists on Saturday that by believing only in "artificial intelligence" and technology they risked the fate of the mythical Icarus, whose home-made wings melted when he flew too close to the sun.
"Contemporary life gives pride of place to an artificial intelligence ever more enslaved to experimental tecnhiques, thereby forgetting that all science should safeguard mankind and promote his tendency to authentic goodness," the Pope said.
The German-born Pope, a theology professor and an enforcer of Vatican dogma before his election as pontiff last year, has voiced his concerns about some areas of scientific research that clash with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
Like his predecessor Pope John Paul II, Benedict is against stem cell technology, which researchers say could help cure serious illnesses but the Church opposes it because it often relies on cells from embryo tissue.
The Vatican teaches that human life begins at conception.
That darn Vatican. At it again.
Isn’t the template wearisome? It leads to such distortions – the Pope was, of course, not only speaking to "scientists" – in fact, most of those gathered probably weren’t scientists, considering the programs offered by the PLU.
He wasn’t just telling "scientists" to avoid the fate of Icarus – he was talking to every one of us, since the cultures we live in, for the most part, overwhelm us with the temptation to live as purely material beings, designing our days and our plans so that our productivity and achievements might be maximized and that our storehouses might be bursting with grain, and to see the problems facing the world as issues that will be fixed by better machines, faster processes and, above all, subjugation of time and space and matter to our wills and our desires.
Forgetting the human hearts, yearning for real communion, joy and wisdom, underneath all the din.
It was also announced that Oriana Fallaci gave her personal library to the university:
In one of her final interviews, Fallaci told The Wall Street Journal: "I am an atheist, and if an atheist and a pope think the same things, there must be something true."
Benedict was surprised by the gift of the books, which dated back as far as the 17th century and included volumes about the formation of modern-day Italy, American history, philosophy and theology, said Monsignor Rino Fisichella, rector of the Pontifical Lateranense University in Rome.
"The veneration that she had for you, Holy Father, persuaded her to make this donation, which will be known as the Oriana Fallaci Archives," Fisichella said during a ceremony at the university Saturday to announce the gift of the books.
Benedict greeted Fallaci’s nephew and his family during the ceremony, according to the Italian news agency ANSA. He then spoke briefly about the search for truth in science and academia.
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