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Father Richard Gant <rgant@flash.net> on 29/02/2000 20:24:04
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Subject: Jubilee 2000: Scientists' Jubilee May 23-25
SCIENTISTS JUBILEE: "MEA CULPA" FOR ABUSES OF PAST
Church Will Also Examine Conscience on Relation with Science
VATICAN CITY, FEB 28 (ZENIT).- The Scientists' Jubilee, which will be
held from May 23-25, is a novelty in the history of Jubilees and
coincides with the impetus John Paul II gave to the dialogue between
faith and science with the publication of his last encyclical "Fides et
Ratio." One of the most awaited moments of this celebration will be the
penitential act in which scientists will ask for forgiveness for abuses
of the past. The Church will also make an examination of conscience for
those occasions in which her children violated science's legitimate
autonomy.
When presenting the program of the Scientists' Jubilee in the Vatican
Press Office this morning, Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the
Pontifical Council for Culture, explained that "in the distant year
1300, the first Jubilee in history, the very concept of 'dialogue
science-faith' would have been regarded as something strange, both by
Albert the Great as well as Maimonides, as would also have been the case
with Galileo, Kepler, Tycho Brahe and even Newton. For these eminent
scientists and believers in God, Creator of the universe, the harmony
between these two forms of knowledge was something natural."
"This harmony between science and faith was broken at a time that
corresponds more or less with the beginning of the Enlightenment,"
Cardinal Poupard said.
The French Cardinal stated that at present the scientific world is
experiencing "an inversion of tendency as regards religion." "The
hostile attitude of positive scientism seems to have been overcome.
There is a need to respond to the great ethical problems that the life
sciences pose, as well as to find answers to the fundamental questions
of metaphysics, that science is unable to give. For its part, religion
can purify science of the idolatry of scientism."
Cardinal Poupard emphasized that "Science needs to recover its wisdom
dimension, as John Paul II frequently states, that is, a science allied
with conscience so that the trinomial science-technology-conscience is
at the service of the real good of man, of every man and all men."
Fr. Bernard Ardura, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture,
added that "from the first moment there has been a desire to avoid a
restrictive interpretation of the concept 'scientific,' frequently
identified with those dedicated to experimental sciences. By science is
understood every rational and methodical exercise of man's intellectual
activity in search of truth. Therefore, the Jubilee is also directed to
those working in the field of sociology, economics, etc., without
neglecting theology and philosophy, long considered the science par
excellence."
One of the topics stirring most interest in the preparation of the
Scientists' Jubilee is the penitential act that will take place on May
24. On one hand, it will be a kind of "mea culpa" pronounced by leaders
of the scientific world who, according to Fr. Ardura, will acknowledge
"the lack of professional honesty, illicit copying, anxiety for
performance, attribution to self of others' merits, and indifference to
the dignity of the person."
On the other hand, and in line with John Paul II's hope for this
Jubilee, it will also be an act "of courage and humility in recognition
of faults committed by those who have called themselves Christians, who
understood sufficiently the legitimate autonomy of science."
As regards the celebrations, it is estimated that some 5,000 people will
attend the Scientists' Jubilee. May 25 will be the day in which the men
and women of science will solemnly cross the threshold of the Holy Door.
Among them will be Professor Nicola Cabibbo, who since 1993 has presided
over the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, to which some of the major
scientists of the world belong. Several of them have received the Nobel
Prize in their field, including Gobind Khorana Har of MIT (1968); Rita
Levi Montalcini, Professor of Neurosurgery (1986); George Emil Palade,
Professor of Cellular Biology of the University of California (1974);
George Porter, Professor of Chemistry, Imperial College, London (1967);
Carlo Rubbia, director of CERN in Geneva (1984); and Charles Townes,
Professor Emeritus of the University of California at Berkeley (1964).
"To see so many scientists from many countries and all scientific
disciplines gathered in Rome around St. Peter's tomb will be the best
testimony of the compatibility between science and faith," Cardinal
Poupard said.
ZE00022810
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