Pope Warns Doctors of Relativism Impacting Medicine

By David Kerr
5/4/2012
Catholic News Agency (www.catholicnewsagency.com)

The Pope also focused on the 'fruitful reciprocity' between science and faith

The Pope observed that it is as if modern man is "dazzled by technical efficacy," and therefore "forgets the essential horizon of the question of meaning, thus relegating the transcendent dimension to insignificance." When meaning is lost and the transcendent forgotten, he explained, "thought becomes weak" and "an ethical impoverishment gains ground, which clouds legal references of value."

Pope Benedict XVI

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ROME, Italy (CNA/EWTN News) - Pope Benedict XVI used a May 3 address to doctors and medical students to warn that the spread of relativism is resulting in scientific advances having "unpredictable consequences."

The Pope told the faculty and students of Rome's Agostino Gemelli Teaching Hospital in an outdoor speech that "ours is a time when the experimental sciences have transformed the worldview and understanding of man."

While he granted that scientific discoveries are a "reason for pride," the pontiff warned that they are often "not without troubling implications," such that "behind the widespread optimism of scientific knowledge, the shadow of a crisis of thought is spreading."

"Rich in means, but not in aims, mankind in our time is often influenced by reductionism and relativism which lead to a loss of the meaning of things," he said, identifying the roots of the crisis.

The Pope observed that it is as if modern man is "dazzled by technical efficacy," and therefore "forgets the essential horizon of the question of meaning, thus relegating the transcendent dimension to insignificance."

When meaning is lost and the transcendent forgotten, he explained, "thought becomes weak" and "an ethical impoverishment gains ground, which clouds legal references of value."

All in all, the Pope stated, "the once fruitful root of European culture and progress seems forgotten."

This techno-practical mentality "generates a risky imbalance between what is technically possible and what is morally good, with unpredictable consequences."

Pope Benedict proposed solving this dangerous imbalance by urging society to "rediscover the vigor and dynamism of the meaning of transcendence, in a word, it must open up to the horizon of the 'quaerere Deum' (search for God)."

Research, no matter how passionately or tenaciously it is done, is "not capable of finding a safe harbor by its own means, because man is not able to fully elucidate the strange shadow that hangs over the question of eternal realities," he added.

Instead, is it God who "must take the initiative to encounter and speak to man," he said.

The Pope also focused on the "fruitful reciprocity" between science and faith, a relationship that he described as "almost a complementary need to understand reality."

Pope Benedict made the visit to the hospital to mark the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Gemelli's medical college, which is the teaching hospital of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.

In addition to the medical students and faculty, his speech was also attended by many students from the Catholic University's Bioethics Center, which aims to assist scientists and doctors in taking an ethical approach to medical research and treatment.

The Pope urged them to pursue research that is "illuminated by faith and science" so that from "these two 'wings'" their work "draws impetus and momentum, without ever losing the right humility, the sense of its own limitations."

This type of approach results in the search for God becoming "fruitful for intelligence, a leaven of culture, promoting true humanism, a research that does not stop at the superficial."

"Dear friends," the Pope said, "allow yourselves to always be guided by the wisdom that comes from above, from a knowledge illuminated by faith, remembering that wisdom requires the passion and hard work of research."

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Keywords: Faith, science, medicine, reason, Pope Benedict XVI, David Kerr

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1 - 6 of 6 Comments

Chris
1 year ago
I read about an exorcism from Immaculee Ilibagiza. The report she reported was by a priest who did an exorcism with seven other priests - the exorcism took over two weeks to free somebody who was possessed by many devils. As the devils came out, the priests asked the devils questions. Well, the first instinct of the devil is to lie, so with every question they ordered the truth be said in the name of Jesus.

Among many questions asked, one priest asked what they do to mislead people. They said that, they actually know books that do good and can change the hearts of the world but they do all they can to discourage the book. They break the machine to print, they delay things, they encourage difficult people to be against it! And they they said, "If everyone would read The Imitation of Christ the world would change." But the devil's job was to make sure this book doesn't reach people. They were pressured to say more truth and they said that they hated especially the first version! They also said that their main target was to destroy families, making sure they don't communicate among themselves and grow to be strangers and hurt each other. My point is to be a good doctor you have to be a good person first.

PS: When you get to know what the devil hates, you got to love it. Anything God loves, love it with all your heart, it is good for you!

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Imitation-of-Christ/Thomas-Kempis/e/9780898708721?r=1&cm_mmc=Google-_-103_T-_-The%20Imitation%20of%20Christ-Title-Exact-_-The%20Imitation%20of%20Christ&imkwid=13071331&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=the+imitation+of+christ&utm_campaign=103_T&cm_mmca1=5df3f449-e823-0608-aa67-000005abd71f
Mark m
1 year ago
Here's what I see. The technological advances coming from the effort to cure diseases and repair injuries has gotten so good that we can, put simply do more. The barriers to fixing things that work, but we want to appear different we're a first major mental and physical barrier. Physical barrier in tht if we don't like our nose we get it "fixed". Mentally, in that a perfectly good working nose is no longer acceptable based on the sole fact we don't accept our God given traits but alter it to paper better for emotional reasons. Expand that to early days of abortion where physicians, who don't always view patients as people, just considered this a mere procedure. The chemistry advances that mean we can control our mood, our penis our ability to procreate. These techno...logical advances fit the practical convenience of our lifestyle and serve no urgent or essential medical necessity. If we eliminated them it would only be less convenient. It's that mentality that needs to be quieted or we will..we have already...alter a babys appearance and traits upon fertility on and iDVD to gerete designer babies. Think I'm making that up? It was the title of a talk at the last conference I was at. I think it can be found at the American chemical societies website as a webinar, but that may only be for members.
DLL
1 year ago
The Pope grew up in a Nazi Germany where relative value systems of thought reduced certain groups of people to the status of being elaborate laboratory animals at best,or else they where considered nothing better than excrement. Shooting someone in the head for no reason other than it was simply a sport for the moment wasn't so unusual. Especially a Jew's death had relatively no meaning. Technology,scientific research,sensationalism of reporting events,politically correct thinking can be based on on models for relative thinking while ignoring human dignity and respect and of coarse the transcendent,as that would be God and Divine Law.The worst terrors on earth have happened as a result of this type of mindset. History tends to repeat itself. The Pope knows this from his personal experience and is wise to warn us all. Thank God for Pope Benedict.
Juneau Alaska
1 year ago
Is Benedict XVI (or his writer) merely mixing up a word salad meant to be interpreted for the next thousand years? Techno-practical mentality? What on earth is he talking about? Please, some concrete examples of these so-called unpredictable consequences would be helpful! Thanks & cheers! ~Mike
abey
1 year ago
The reason as to why man needs God is to His Guidance, & this can only be brought about through Faith in God, for which the Son was sent, who is the light or beacon off God to the destination, setting on a long journey where the deviation in the course away from the beacon would lead to the wrong destination & greater the length greater the error, which in the Spiritual significance is to the word of Jesus "Live by every word of God". The term relativism can also be referred to as "Artificiality", which is moving away from the natural things come from God, like Gay relationship or alternate forms of living called Parallelism , which in terms of Faith is to a Pseudo Christ instead of The Christ & in the masonic concepts is to a Baal off the pagan Hindu existent beliefs(Babylonian), through the hidden meaning of coming out of oneself, but in the Truth the Bible says come out of Sin & not oneself for by the origin man was not created for sin. So this coming out of oneself is to a coming in to relativism or artificiality to a floater via the Sorcery, to become its mentor's football.
jh
1 year ago
Eloquent and clear.

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