St. John Paul II's Message about Science and the Church

[Anselm33]

Although we recognize on the occasion of his canonization all the great things St. John Paul II did, not so much is being said about his efforts to seek a rapprochement with science (but see St. John Paul II’s Rapprochement with Science). Rapprochement means seeking a treaty with a warring party, seeking reconciliation, and although the Church has not been at war with science, there are many scientists and atheists who perceive this to be the case.
St. John Paul II effected this reconciliation in three ways: 1) redressing the Galileo Affair; 2) making the position of the Church on evolution clear and consistent with both dogma and science; 3) instituting conferences on how Divine Intervention might be manifested in several scientific disciplines.
You can find out more about these efforts by going to the linked post, but I’d like to wind up with some good quotes (for those who won’t visit that post)

“Science can purify religion from error and superstition; religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. Each can draw the other into a wider world, a world in which both can flourish.” St. John Paul II, Letter to Rev. George Coyne, S.J., Director of the Vatican Observatory.

“Christianity possesses the source of its justification within itself and does not expect science to constitute its primary apologetic.” ibid.

“It can be said, in fact, that research, by exploring the greatest and the smallest, contributes to the glory of God which is reflected in every part of the universe.”
St. John Paul II, Address on the Jubilee of Scientists, 2000

I think the second quote is particularly apt, in recognizing that those theologians who attempt to use science to justify faith in the dogma and doctrines of the Catholic Church are playing a losing game.

 

[balto]

I remember reading Fides et Ratio about a year ago now. It is pretty neat that Pope St. John Paul II tried to heal the divide between science and Catholicism, although as you correctly noted said divide was only a perceived divide. I didn’t know everything that Pope St. John Paul II had done though so I appreciated your blog post.

I think the second quote is particularly apt, in recognizing that those theologians who attempt to use science to justify faith in the dogma and doctrines of the Catholic Church are playing a losing game.

Yes, this is a good observation. I wish that more people would understand that articles of faith are generally subject to philosophical inquiry and not scientific inquiry, and that there is a difference between the two. Thank you for the informative post .

 

[grannymh]

Although we recognize on the occasion of his canonization all the great things St. John Paul II did, not so much is being said about his efforts to seek a rapprochement with science (but see St. John Paul II’s Rapprochement with Science). Rapprochement means seeking a treaty with a warring party, seeking reconciliation, and although the Church has not been at war with science, there are many scientists and atheists who perceive this to be the case.
St. John Paul II effected this reconciliation in three ways: 1) redressing the Galileo Affair; 2) making the position of the Church on evolution clear and consistent with both dogma and science; 3) instituting conferences on how Divine Intervention might be manifested in several scientific disciplines.
You can find out more about these efforts by going to the linked post, but I’d like to wind up with some good quotes (for those who won’t visit that post)

“Science can purify religion from error and superstition; religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. Each can draw the other into a wider world, a world in which both can flourish.” St. John Paul II, Letter to Rev. George Coyne, S.J., Director of the Vatican Observatory.

“Christianity possesses the source of its justification within itself and does not expect science to constitute its primary apologetic.” ibid.

“It can be said, in fact, that research, by exploring the greatest and the smallest, contributes to the glory of God which is reflected in every part of the universe.”
St. John Paul II, Address on the Jubilee of Scientists, 2000

I think the second quote is particularly apt, in recognizing that those theologians who attempt to use science to justify faith in the dogma and doctrines of the Catholic Church are playing a losing game.

I was personally delighted to see the link’s reference to St. John Paul II.
rationalcatholic.blogspot.com/2014/05/st-john-pauls-rapprochement-with.html

He also showed much insight in commenting on the scientific aspects of evolution, that while evolution (the descent of species) is a fact, there is more than one theory–mechanism–proposed to explain evolution.

“As a result, the theories of evolution which, because of the philosophies which inspire them, regard the spirit either as emerging from the forces of living matter, or as a simple epiphenomenon of that matter, are incompatible with the truth about man. They are therefore unable to serve as the basis for the dignity of the human person.”

 

[Charlemagne_III]

“Science can purify religion from error and superstition; religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. Each can draw the other into a wider world, a world in which both can flourish.” St. John Paul II, Letter to Rev. George Coyne, S.J., Director of the Vatican Observatory.

"Christianity possesses the source of its justification within itself and does not expect science to constitute its primary apologetic." ibid."It can be said, in fact, that research, by exploring the greatest and the smallest, contributes to the glory of God which is reflected in every part of the universe."
St. John Paul II, Address on the Jubilee of Scientists, 2000

I think the second quote is particularly apt, in recognizing that those theologians who attempt to use science to justify faith in the dogma and doctrines of the Catholic Church are playing a losing game.

It is certainly true that theology does not depend on science to justify its doctrines.

On the other hand, there is no reason not to expect to see that in some keys areas science and religion might converge, and that we should not repudiate those convergences when they occur. As in the following.

Carl Sagan in Cosmos, 1980 A.D.

“Ten or twenty billion years ago, something happened – the Big Bang, the event that began our universe…. In that titanic cosmic explosion, the universe began an expansion which has never ceased…. As space stretched, the matter and energy in the universe expanded with it and rapidly cooled. The radiation of the cosmic fireball, which, then as now, filled the universe, moved through the spectrum – from gamma rays to X-rays to ultraviolet light; through the rainbow colors of the visible spectrum; into the infrared and radio regions. The remnants of that fireball, the cosmic background radiation, emanating from all parts of the sky can be detected by radio telescopes today. In the early universe, space was brilliantly illuminated.”

Genesis, 1200 B.C. : “In the beginning God said: ‘Let there be light.’”

As astronomer Robert Jastrow pointed out in God and the Astronomers.

“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”

“True science to an ever-increasing degree discovers God as though God were waiting behind each closed door opened by science.” Pope Pius XII