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With all the news to discuss lately, I have not had time to
tackle my favorite issue of religion and especially the Catholic religion.
Some time ago I ran into an article talking about an event
commemorating the 1986 WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR PEACE, called by John Paul II
which included leaders of ALL religions, meeting in the town of Assisi , Italy
At the time, the meeting was quite the visual spectacle with
robed leaders of all faiths sitting side by side in a common cause.
The 2011 commemoration of the event was called by Pope
Benedict XVI who in 1986 did not look at interfaith dialogue in a positive way
since he considered the Catholic faith as the one “true faith” or the only
“real faith” and as such, should not be involved with “false faiths” and many
Catholics joined him in that belief.
BUT in 2011, Pope Benedict not only invited 300 religious
leaders to Assisi
The article was written by Mr. Rocca, Vatican correspondent
for Religion News Service and Mr. Rocca goes on to say that it is important to
note that Benedict opened up the dialogue on peace to non-religious “seekers of
the truth”…this is getting deep.
Mr. Rocca says that this action is part of Benedict’s
pontifical theme to help “Western culture restore its dialogue between faith
and reason”. This is a subject I have studied in the past and have followed
Benedict’s pronouncements on the subject and it is quite interesting to discuss
given Benedict’s belief history.
I am not saying people cannot change or see things in a
different light as they age, grow mature or gain in experience. That is why
“wisdom” is usually associated with people that have experienced life for some
time.
Benedict, as well as other popes before him, have tried to
narrow the gap between faith and reason if not eliminate it altogether.
Remember Copernicus and Galileo, John Paul actually apologized for what
transpired in history with these two scientists (world revolves around sun and
not visa versa).
In fact, the Catholic Church is in agreement with the “fact”
of evolution and does not see any conflict between Church teachings and
evolution unlike other Christian religions (fundamentalists) that have a problem
with “reason” and oppose the teaching of evolution and any other “fact” that
may conflict with what they believe the Bible is saying.
So where the original interfaith meeting in 1986 displayed
religious SYNCRETISM (fusion of many beliefs), this meeting emphasized that
“some religions are truer than others”…wow, what a departure from the original
intent of the gathering in Assisi
Benedict’s emphasis on “objective truth” is essential to his
agenda, according to the article. Benedict has said that social justice is
based on norms accessible to all, derived NOT from divine revelation (read
Islam, etc.) but from “reason and nature”. Truth comes from “universally
applicable principles that are as real as the physical elements of the natural
environment.”
Now I know this is a lot to digest but let’s try…
Benedict has been concerned about the West (Europe
especially) falling away from faith because modern people cannot reconcile
common sense, scientific knowledge and modern social norms with the superstition
that is religion; Benedict wants to reverse that trend and he is trying a
different approach which I find commendable.
So Benedict has not really changed and still believes that
Catholicism is the one true religion and by stressing the Church’s embrace of
“reason”, he tries to differentiate Catholicism from all the other religions;
the religions that are based on infallible dogma / Bible / Koran that in many
cases, conflicts with reason and/or societal concepts of ethics and metaphysics
(fundamental nature of reality and being).
I will admit that I find this move by Benedict quite
interesting and for being 84, quite an intellectual exercise…
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