Pope Francis: Path to peace lies in truth and charity

Pope Francis sends a message to the II International Meeting 'Science for Peace'organized by the Diocese of Teramo-Atri, in collaboration with the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and remarks that the search for truth in charity is the foundation for the construction of a peaceful society.

“The way to peace lies in truth and charity”, Pope Francis said in a written message on Friday.

The meeting 'Science for Peace'

“Enlightened search for truth in charity will lay ever more solid foundations for the construction of a peaceful society because it is harmoniously ordered towards its end, with respect for the person and in grateful correspondence to the gifts of God”, the Pope told participants in the Second International Meeting 'Science for Peace - New Disciples of Knowledge: the Scientific Method in the Changing Era” held in the Central Italian city of Teramo.

The event is organized by the Diocese of Teramo-Atri, in collaboration with the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, on the occasion of the 9th centenary of the death of the Patron Saint Berard.

It will discuss the contribution of scientists to peace, with a keynote speech by the vice-chancellor of the Accademy, Monsignor Dario Edoardo Viganò.

Being men and women of science is a form of charity

Indeed, “being men and women of science is a vocation and, at the same time, a mission, a specific form of charity: an intellectual one”, Pope Francis remarks in his message addressed to the Bishop of Teramo-Atri Lorenzo Leuzzi.

The Pope recalls the words of Blessed Antonio Rosmini, the 19th-century Italian Catholic priest and thinker, who affirmed that “truth and charity are linked by a fundamental bond”.

“The search for and study of truth are an essential part of an authentic service of charity and, at the itself, charity lived and exercised leads man to an ever fuller knowledge of the truth.”

Thinking big in changing times

However, the Pope notes, in the face of the “change of epoch” the world is currently experiencing, intellectual charity cannot be confined within the enclosures of research centers or reserved only to 'insiders', but must animate and support the construction of a renewed proximity, as I indicated in the Encyclical Fratelli tutti.

“It is therefore “urgent – he stresses- that those involved in scientific investigation discover the historical responsibility of their commitment in the various fields of knowledge, overcoming the temptation to isolate themselves in particular spheres, to promote a new culture of knowledge”.

Citing the words of St. Paul VI when he started his mission as Archbisop of Milan in 1954, Pope Francis stressed that “intellectual charity must inspire in the person 'to think big'', as called in his Encyclical Letter ‘Fratelli Tutti’

Search for truth in charity a solid foundation for building peace

Concluding his message, Pope Francis renews the call the Italian Pope addressed by to thinkers and scientistst n 1965 at the close of the Second Vatican Council to 'Continue to seek, without tiring, without ever despairing of the truth” as called by S. Augustine, insisting that “an enlightened search for truth in charity” will lay an “ever more solid foundations for the construction of a peaceful society”.

Lisa Zengarini
Source: vaticannews.va