VATICAN CITY (CNS): The world’s huge technological and scientific progress hasn’t always made people freer or happier, Pope Benedict XVI said.
While scientific knowledge and advancements “are important for human life, it’s not enough on its own”, the Pope said on October 24 at his weekly general audience.
“We need not just material sustenance; we need love, meaning, hope and a solid foundation” that helped people live with courage even in the face of doubt, difficulties and everyday problems, he said.
Before an estimated 20,000 people gathered in St Peter’s Square, the Pope continued a new series of catecheses to accompany the Year of Faith, which runs until November 24, 2013.
His talk focused on the nature of faith and what it means to believe.
The Pope said, “Despite the great magnitude of scientific discoveries and technological successes, humanity today does not seem to have become truly freer and more human.”
Along with signs of progress and increas-ed well-being, there also are “many forms of exploitation, manipulation, violence, tyranny and injustice”.
Faith gives people a solid sense of certainty in uncertain times because “faith is believing in this love of God that never fails in the face of human wickedness, evil and death, but is capable of transforming every form of slavery, offering the possibility of salvation”, he said.
“Faith is not the simple intellectual approval by man of truths concerning God; it is an act in which I freely entrust myself to a God who is Father and loves me,” the Pope said.
In fact, having faith was above all about having a relationship with a God whose love was “indestructible” and who understood people’s problems, he said.
Christian faith entailed giving up control and placing one’s life in God’s hands, he said.
He said it was this “liberating and reassuring certainty of faith” that helped people live without fear, proclaiming and living out the Gospel with courage.
While faith is a gift of God and it takes divine grace and help from the Holy Spirit in order to truly believe, a free acceptance of faith is also necessary.
Trusting in God and adhering to his truths “is contrary neither to human freedom nor to human reason”, he said quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Breaking free from one’s own limited views and expectations, and believing God would show the way resulted in true liberty, an authentic human identity, real joy and peace, he said.
