by Manfred Shell
Some of the statements made to Manfred Schell about Die Welt, which will be published in full in the Pope Emeritus’s Opera Omnia, which will be published in the spring
We publish an excerpt of the unpublished interview (in Italian) given by Joseph Ratzinger, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with Manfred Schell in Die Welt (translation by Pierluca Azzaro) in 1988. The interview appears in the new volume of Joseph Ratzinger’s Opera Omnia, to be published by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana this spring.
You have denounced the weariness of faith in the West. What are the causes?
I think it’s a tiredness that results from a saturation of existence with knowledge and skills and in which doubts about people themselves arise. We are so preoccupied with questions of economic and political self-assertion that faith appears as an offer that has to be forced from somewhere, so to speak. Self-doubt leads to flight, to wanting to get out. But here also lies the possibility of a revival of faith if he gives answers to the questions of his time.
Does the church have to become more active, more critical, maybe even more political?
Definitely more active and critical. In recent years the church has been too self-absorbed. In recent decades, the Church in Germany has rightly campaigned for fundamental values on the political stage. important, but the impression must not be given that faith is limited to a kind of political moralism. The central message of God, of Jesus Christ, of temporal and eternal salvation must be perceived more clearly again, because the church is not an organization for the betterment of the world.
The question remains whether the church should be more politically shaped.
It is very important that the Church does not itself become a player in a game played by political forces and succumb to it. But he must look to the soul of politics, to its ethical basis.
Theological science needs its freedom. Without them it cannot develop. Does this judgment also apply to the relationship between church and natural sciences?
Absolutely. The Church seeks the truth and for this alone she respects all the tools of knowledge. Therefore, it is important to consider each individual method, to recognize its justification. This does not mean that the church takes on a mere listening role. Precisely respect for science should compel us to maintain a constant and attentive dialogue with it. In fact, today we are faced with the question of moral responsibility for what we can achieve thanks to science. They range from the atomic bomb to ecology to genetic manipulation. On the one hand knowledge must not be blocked, on the other hand we must oppose the use with which man would destroy himself and the world. This requires a very careful dialogue on both sides.
January 2, 2023 (change January 2, 2023 | 07:48)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED