Acta Benedicti Pp. XVI 705

which men and women are increasingly conscious of their call to be actively

engaged in shaping their own history. Historically, it was in Europe that

humanism developed, thanks to the fruitful interplay between the various

cultures of her peoples and the Christian faith. Europe today needs to pre-

serve and reappropriate her authentic tradition if she is to remain faithful to

her vocation as the cradle of humanism.

The present cultural shift is often seen as a "challenge" to the culture of

the university and Christianity itself, rather than as a "horizon" against

which creative solutions can and must be found. As men and women of higher

education, you are called to take part in this demanding task, which calls for

sustained reflection on a number of foundational issues.

Among these, I would mention in the first place the need for a compre-

hensive study of the crisis of modernity. European culture in recent centuries

has been powerfully conditioned by the notion of modernity. The present

crisis, however, has less to do with modernity's insistence on the centrality

of man and his concerns, than with the problems raised by a "humanism"

that claims to build a regnum hominis detached from its necessary ontological

foundation. A false dichotomy between theism and authentic humanism,

taken to the extreme of positing an irreconcilable conflict between divine

law and human freedom, has led to a situation in which humanity, for all

its economic and technical advances, feels deeply threatened. As my prede-

cessor, Pope John Paul II, stated, we need to ask "whether in the context of

all this progress, man, as man, is becoming truly better, that is to say, more

mature spiritually, more aware of the dignity of his humanity, more respon-

sible and more open to others".1 The anthropocentrism which characterizes

modernity can never be detached from an acknowledgment of the full truth

about man, which includes his transcendent vocation.

A second issue involves the broadening of our understanding of rational-

ity. A correct understanding of the challenges posed by contemporary cul-

ture, and the formulation of meaningful responses to those challenges, must

take a critical approach towards narrow and ultimately irrational attempts

to limit the scope of reason. The concept of reason needs instead to be

"broadened" in order to be able to explore and embrace those aspects of

reality which go beyond the purely empirical. This will allow for a more

fruitful, complementary approach to the relationship between faith and rea-

son. The rise of the European universities was fostered by the conviction that

faith and reason are meant to cooperate in the search for truth, each respect-

1 Redemptor Hominis, 15.