ARTICLES

The Dictatorship of Appearances

RELATIVISM AND SKEPTICISM ARE PRISONS, SAYS VISITING CARDINAL

By George Neumayr and Al Delgado

Pope John Paul II's latest encyclical, Faith and Reason, challenges humanity to recover the truth in an atmosphere of widespread skepticism and relativism, said Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger on February 13 at a St. Patrick's Seminary lecture in Menlo Park. The visiting cardinal, who is the Pope's chief doctrinal adviser, said modern philosophical and theological inquiry places greater importance on the historical and cultural context of an author's writings than on the truth those writings may contain. He said the truth of the Gospel transcends the particular characteristics of different cultures, drawing all people to the God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ.

"Faith in Jesus Christ is of its nature a continual opening of the self: it is God's breaking into the world of human beings and the response of human beings breaking-out toward God, who at the same time leads them to one another," said the cardinal. But the narrow-minded historical approach to ancient writings "becomes an immunization against the truth" and neutralizes the reading of the Bible. It leads us to approach writings not for the truths they contain but only for their usefulness.

"Behind this form of 'historical interpretation' lies a philosophy, a fundamental perspective on reality, which says it is in fact pointless to ask about what is; we can only ask ourselves what we are able to do with things. The issue is not truth, but praxis, the domination of things for our needs," said Ratzinger. The cardinal said the modern attitude toward knowledge contains a "false humility," denying the human person's capacity for truth and a "false presumption, by which one places one's self above things, above truth itself, while, at the same time, making the extension of one's power, one's domination over things, the objective of one's thought."

Ratzinger said the Pope's encylical encourages humanity to use reason once again "in the adventure of searching for truth." "Man is not trapped in a hall of mirrors of interpretations...Man must ask who he really is and what he is to do; he must ask whether there is a God; who God is, and what the world is. The one who no longer poses these questions is by that very fact bereft of any standard or path," said the cardinal.

The cardinal referred to a German commentator's endorsement of Pope John Paul II's message in a weekly newspaper usually not sympathetic to the Church's views. If the Pope were to remain silent on these ultimate questions of truth, he quoted commentator Jan Ross, there "would be a moment of dreadful silence." Ross criticized "dumbing-down through unbelief" in modern thought. He has written: "As reason turned away from the ultimate questions, it has become indifferent and tiresome, it has become incompetent for addressing the life-questions of good and evil, of death and immortality."

Modern thinkers argue Christianity subjugated peoples and despoiled cultures and did not disseminate a common, universal truth for all peoples, noted the cardinal. But the Pope in Faith and Reason expresses hope for a communion of truth beyond the boundaries of a multiplicity of cultures, a truth which is open to the revelation of God. "He underscores the fact that when cultures are deeply rooted in what is human, they bear witness in themselves to the human person's 'characteristic openness to the universal and transcedent," said Ratzinger.

Using the New Testament's account of Pentecost, the Pope shows that the truth of Jesus Christ can be understood by all cultures using all languages. With the proclamation of the Gospel, cultural identity is preserved and a universal truth embraced, said the cardinal. "In all (cultures) the human word becomes the bearer of God's own language, of God's own Logos," he said.

The Old Testament is a story of God's struggle with the Jewish people to lead them beyond their selfish, idolatrous wishes and to worship the one, transcendent, almighty God of all peoples, said the cardinal. "Israel's faith requires a continual self-transcendence, an overcoming of its own culture, in order to open itself and enter into the expansiveness of a truth common to all," said Ratzinger.

Like Israel, all cultures are invited to go beyond their own particularities and partake of the 'self-emptying of the Cross' that forges an intimate bond between peoples. "Everything particular now belongs to everyone, and everything which belongs to others becomes also our own," said the cardinal. He said the Christian faith used elements of self-transcendence in Greek culture to evangelize cultures in Asia, Africa and America. "The Christian faith, then, can connect with movements seeking to 'escape from the prison of relativism' and can recognize noble elements in religions, such as reverence, humility, sacrifice, goodness, love of neighbor and hope for eternal life. "....They (religions) contribute to salvation insofar as they bring men 'to ask about God,' or as it is expressed in the Old Testament 'to seek his face,' to seek 'the kingdom of God and its righteousness," said Ratzinger.

The Pope's encyclical states that faith becomes more profound and pure in dialogue with philosophy, and human thought is enriched by "new horizons" of faith opened to it. "A philosophy which no longer asks about who we are, about why we exist, about whether God and eternal life exist, has, as philosophy, abdicated," he said.

In his encyclical, the Pope states philosophy must go beyond the modern obsession with what is apparent, which risks separating the human person from his innermost self. We must direct ourselves to the glory of God, the radiant splendor of truth, said Ratzinger. "Today, the dictatorship of appearances can be clearly seen on two planes: on the level of political activity where, in many cases, what really counts is what 'appears' about facts; what is said, what is written, what is presented, more than fact themselves. Widespread opinion assumes a greater importance than what in fact really happened," he said.

The Holy Father also warns against placing excessive importance on experience, which some theologians have adopted as the ultimate standard. Ratzinger quoted the encyclical: "The word of God refers constantly to things which transcend human experience. Indeed, the reduction to experience traps the human person in the subjective. Revelation is more than experience, and only thus does it give us an experience of God and help us to bring our own experiences together, to order them rightly, and through positive and critical discernment, to understand and communicate them," said Ratzinger.

Ratzinger's visit to the Bay Area also included doctrinal meetings with bishops from the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, and the Pacific region. The meetings, held at the Vallombrosa Center in Menlo Park, addressed feminism, homosexuality, moral relativism, and the importantce of doctrinal unity and fidelity to the magisterium. Ratzinger stressed in the meetings that the Word of God is "prior to human speech" and thus all cultures "can become the bearer of God's word."

Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone said that obedience to the Church's magisterium represents "not a suppression of the intellect," but a "progressive harmonization of one's mind and heart with the mind and heart of God." Toronto Cardinal Ambrozic said that "women could not find an ally more clearly determined than the Church to recognize and defend their dignity," and that the call to holiness has primacy "over every structure and every distinction in the Church of Christ."

The meetings reaffirmed the Church's stance on homosexuality, that "homosexual acts cannot contribute to the authentic good of the human person."

At a press conference following the meetings, Cardinal Ratzinger said in response to a question concerning Ex Corde Ecclesiae that the faithful have "a right to know what is Catholic and what is not Catholic." Asked about Catholic polticians who vote for abortion, he said that as a general rule "collarobation with abortion is a grave sin."

Later that same day, Cardinal Ratzinger visited Father Joseph Fessio's Ignatius Press, a publisher of his books, and then gave a blessing to students of the St. Ignatius Institute.