John Paul II Addresses A Favorite Topic

CASTEL GANDOLFO, SEP 26, 1999 (ZENIT).- Today, John Paul II once again addressed a topic that has interested him enormously since his youth: the relation between faith and reason. He spoke on this subject a year after signing the encyclical "Fides et Ratio" (Faith and Reason), in which he proposed a newdialogue between contemporary philosophy and theology.  The Pope focused especially on the role of reason in the road to faith.  Reason, he said, "is already present in the mature act of faith, because  the latter, although founded on the 'authority of God who reveals,'  develops in a profoundly reasonable way through the perception of 'signs' that God Himself has given in the history of salvation," the Pontiff explained. Signs of the Spirit  "Obviously, it is not about 'proofs,' as is the case in the field of experimental science. God's signs are to be found in the context of interpersonal communication. According to the latter's logic, not only is it related to reasoning, but also to a profound existential commitment. In this condition, and supported by interior grace, they become luminous indicators, a kind of 'signs of the Spirit,' which indicate the presence of God and impel man to abandon himself to God with full confidence." But the role of reason in the life of the believer is not limited to this. "Mature faith challenges intelligence, committing the latter, in St. Anselm's expression, 'to seek what it loves.' Thus faith becomes not only reasonable but also 'reasoning,' " the Pontiff, who is a doctor of philosophy and theology, said. The Holy Father is convinced that there can be no faith without reason, nor full reason without faith. "What is more, it can be said that 'one is in the other': on one hand it is necessary to believe to perceive something of the mystery that transcends us; on the other, it is necessary to understand so that faith will be reasonable and increasingly mature."