THE POPE AND THE SCIENTIST
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John Pazmino
NYSkies Astronomy Inc
nyskies@nyskies.org
2006 June 21
Dr Stephen Hawking recalled that the late Pope John Paul II warned
against studying the origin of the universe because that event was
the work of God. Hawking stated that this warning was given at an
unspecified conference on cosmology at the Vatican.
Hawking mentioned this Pope incident during his public lecture on
cosmology at Hong Kong University, in Hong Kong, on 15 June 2006.
This remark by Hawking was absorbed into the general contention
about science versus religion, at least in the United States. If the
Pope did issue such a caution, it would be a modern example of religion
'interfering' with science, this time at a meeting hosted by that very
religion!
Being the careful wisely writer, I inquired.
The Pope did address the Vatican Conference on Cosmology on 6 July
1985 with the following text. it has no explicit 'warning' against
trying to learn how the universe began. This conference occurred 21
years ago! Memory can be perturbed by a long intervening time.
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ADDRESS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II
TO THE PARTICIPANTS
IN THE VATICAN CONFERENCE ON COSMOLOGY
Saturday, 6 July 1985
Dear Friends,
1. Offer very cordial greetings to the participants in the Vatican
Conference on Cosmology. In this year which marks the Fiftieth
Anniversary of scientific research at the Specola Vaticana, I would
like to take this occasion to extend my heartfelt congratulations and
best wishes to Father Coyne and the entire staff of the Observatory.
Please know that your diligent work, especially in the field of
astrophysics, together with your ecclesial dedication, bears splendid
witness to the Church's profound interest in the world of science and
particularly in the men and women engaged in scientific research.
I warmly greet the observational astronomers and the theorists in
gravitational physics and cosmology who have accepted the invitation
to take part in this important meeting. It is a joy to welcome you
today, together with the members of your families.
2. Through the natural sciences, and cosmology in particular, we have
become much more aware of our true physical position within the
universe, within physical reality - in space and in time. We are
struck very forcibly by our smallness and apparent insignificance, and
even more by our vulnerability in such a vast and seemingly hostile
environment. Yet this universe of ours, this galaxy in which our sun
is situated and this planet on which we live, is our home. And all of
it in some way or other serves to support us, nourish us, fascinate
us, inspire us, taking us out of ourselves and forcing us to look far
beyond the limits of our unaided vision. What we discover through our
study of nature and of the universe in all its immensity and rich
variety serves on the one hand to emphasize our fragile condition and
our littleness, and on the other hand to manifest clearly our
greatness and superiority in the midst of all creation - the
profoundly exalted position we enjoy in being able to search, to
imagine and to discover so much. We are made in the image and likeness
of God. Thus, we are capable of knowing and understanding more and
more about the universe and all that it contains. We can reach out and
grasp its inner workings and designs, plumbing its depths with
questioning reverence and with awestruck imagination.
3. This Conference, I have been told, has as one of its principal
focuses the determination of the inherent limitations of cosmology's
competency and its observational verifiability - the limits in
principle and in practice of the scientific verification of its
theoretical products. With a gradual and constant growth in humble
self-knowledge, we are able to avoid the extremes of an inflated
evaluation of our own abilities and capacities or a disparagingly
narrow and superficial one. And that is true of any disciple or field
of study. A sound appreciation of both our limitations and strong
points enables us to plan our projects carefully, to maintain proper
relationships with the material, personal and divine realities, and to
become ever more sensitive to all the valuable information which is
available to us through modern science.
4. The more we know about physical reality, about the history and
structure of the universe, about the fundamental make-up of matter and
the processes and patterns which at the roots of the material world,
the more we can appreciate the immensity of the mystery of God, the
more we are in a position to grasp the mystery of ourselves - our
origin and our destiny. For creation, as we have come to know it,
speaks to us in fragmentary yet very true reflections of the God who
created it and maintains it in existence. Of course, that picture must
always remain tantalizingly incomplete. For certain aspects of our
lives rise above and move beyond the material dimension and, while
having deep roots in the material, surpass the understanding which the
natural sciences are capable of providing. They draw our attention to
the realm of the Spirit. The human creations of art and poetry, our
longing for justice and peace and for wholeness, indeed all genuine
human experience, lead us to recognize that there is an interiority in
the universe and particularly in human life, an interiority which
cannot simply be reduced to the features of reality which the physical
and natural sciences are concerned with. There are certainly important
and essential contributions to be made by the sciences, directly and
indirectly, to these more interior or spiritual characteristics of
reality. Indeed such contributions must be made, but their
investigation and study demands other complementary methods and
disciplines such as those provided by the arts, the humanities,
philosophy and theology. These in turn must become aware of their own
essential competencies and limitations.
5. Much of what modern astronomy and cosmology investigate does not
find direct application via technology. Yet it makes a vitally
important contribution. For it helps us, at the very least, to put
ourselves and everything else into a larger perspective, encouraging
us to move beyond our own narrow and selfish concerns. Our view of
ourselves, of God and of the universe is radically different from that
of people in the Middle Ages. We see ourselves situated in a much
larger context - in a much more vast and much more intricately, even
delicately, complex world and universe.
For the first time we have seen ourselves from outside - from the
Moon, and from other vantage points in our solar system. And with that
startling perspective, we realize that we must be more responsible for
ourselves, our neighbours, our institutions, and our planet, whatever
may be our nation, religion or political stance. We realize ever more
deeply our smallness and our frailty, but at the same time our
grandeur. We feel more inclined to say together with the Psalmist of
the Old Testament: "The heavens proclaim the glory of God and the
firmament shows forth the work of his hands" (Ps. 19 (18), 1.
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= = = = =
Quick assist from NYSkies readers on 21 June 2006 turned up the
specific reference of Dr Hawking. The Pope's comments were cited in
Hawking's 'A brief history of time' and Hawking recounted them in his
Hong Kong lecture. The book refers to a Vatican cosmology conference
in 1981, which indeed has the following address by Pope John Paul II.
Again, there is no real admonition against inquiring too far into the
beginning of the uiverse.
= = = = =
Cosmology and Fundamental Physics
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Pope John Paul II
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Discourse of His Holiness Pope John Paul II given on 3rd October 1981
at the Solemn Audience granted to the Plenary Session and participants
in the Study Week dedicated to "Cosmology and Fundamental Physics"
with members of two Work Groups who had discussed "Perspectives of
Immunization against Parasitic Diseases" and "Effects Resulting from
an Atomic Bombing".
Mr. President,
Members of the Academy,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1. The programme of work which your President has presented, and with
which I was already acquainted before this meeting, demonstrates the
great vitality of your Academy, its interest in the most acute
problems of modern science and its interest in the service of
humanity. On the occasion of a previous solemn session I have already
had the opportunity to tell you how highly the Church esteems pure
science: it is "a good, worthy of being loved, for it is knowledge and
therefore perfection of man in his intelligence ... It must be
honoured for its own sake, as an integral part of culture" (Address to
the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 10 November 1979).
Before speaking of the questions which you have already discussed
during these days and those which you now propose to study, permit me
to express my warm thanks to your illustrious President, Professor
Carlos Chagas, for the congratulations which he kindly expressed in
the name of your whole Assembly for my having regained my physical
strength, thanks to the merciful Providence of God and the skill of
the doctors who have cared for me. And I am pleased to avail myself of
the occasion to express my particular gratitude to the Members of the
Academy who from all parts of the world have sent me their good wishes
and assured me of their prayers.
2. During this Study Week, you are dealing with the subject of
"Cosmology and Fundamental Physics", with the participation of
scholars from the whole world, from as far away as North and South
America and Europe and China. This subject is linked to themes already
dealt with by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the course of its
prestigious history. Here I wish to speak of the session on
microseisms, stellar clusters, cosmic radiation and galactic nuclei,
sessions' which have taken place under the presidency of Father
Gemelli, Monsignor Lemaitre and also Father O'Connell, to whom I
address my most fervent good wishes and whom I pray the Lord to assist
in his infirmity.
Cosmogony and cosmology have always aroused great interest among
peoples and religions. The Bible itself speaks to us of the origin of
the universe and its make-up, not in order to provide us with a
scientific treatise, but in order to state the correct relationships
of man with God and with the universe. Sacred Scripture wishes simply
to declare that the world was created by God, and in order to teach
this truth it expresses itself in the terms of the cosmology in use at
the time of the writer. The Sacred Book likewise wishes to tell men
that the world was not created as the seat of the gods, as was taught
by other cosmogonies and cosmologies, but was rather created for the
service of man and the glory of God. Any other teaching about the
origin and make-up of the universe is alien to the intentions of the
Bible, which does not wish to teach how heaven was made but how one
goes to heaven.
Any scientific hypothesis on the origin of the world, such as the
hypothesis of a primitive atom from which derived the whole of the
physical universe, leaves open the problem concerning the universe's
beginning. Science cannot of itself solve this question: there is
needed that human knowledge that rises above physics and astrophysics
and which is called metaphysics; there is needed above all the
knowledge that comes from God's revelation. Thirty years ago, on 22
November 1951, my predecessor Pope Pius XII, speaking about the
problem of the origin of the universe at the Study Week on the subject
of microseisms organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences,
expressed himself as follows: "In vain would one expect a reply from
the sciences of nature, which on the contrary frankly declare that
they find themselves faced by an insoluble enigma. It is equally
certain that the human mind versed in philosophical meditation
penetrates the problem more deeply. One cannot deny that a mind which
is enlightened and enriched by modern scientific knowledge and which
calmly considers this problem is led to break the circle of matter
which is totally independent and autonomous-as being either uncreated
or having created itself-and to rise to a creating Mind. With the same
clear and critical gaze with which it examines and judges the facts,
it discerns and recognizes there the work of creative Omnipotence,
whose strength raised up by the powerful fiat uttered billions of
years ago by the creating Mind, has spread through the universe,
calling into existence, in a gesture of generous love, matter teeming
with energy".
3. Members of the Academy, I am very pleased with the theme that you
have chosen for your Plenary Session beginning on this very day: "The
Impact of Molecular Biology on Society". I realize the advantages that
result-and can still result-from the study and applications of
molecular biology, supplemented by other disciplines such as genetics
and its technological application in agriculture and industry, and
also, as is envisaged, for the treatment of various illnesses, some of
a hereditary character.
I have firm confidence in the world scientific community, and in a
very special way in the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and I am
certain that thanks to them biological progress and research, as also
all other forms of scientific research and its technological
application, will be carried out in full respect for the norms of
morality, safeguarding human dignity, freedom and equality It is
necessary that science should always be accompanied and controlled by
the wisdom that belongs to the permanent spiritual heritage of
humanity and that takes its inspiration from the design of God
implanted in creation before being subsequently proclaimed by his
Word.
Reflection that is inspired by science and by the wisdom of the world
scientific community must enlighten humanity regarding the
consequences-good and bad-of scientific research, and especially of
that research which concerns man, so that, on the one hand, there will
be no fixation on anticultural positions that retard the progress of
humanity, and that on the other hand there will be no attack on man's
most precious possession: the dignity of his person, destined to true
progress in the unity of his physical, intellectual and spiritual
well-being.
4. There is another subject which, during these days, has occupied the
thoughts of some of you, eminent scholars from different parts of the
world who have been brought together by the Pontifical Academy of
Sciences: the question of parasitic diseases, diseases which strike
the poorest countries of the world and are a serious obstacle to the
development of man in the harmonious framework of his physical,
economic and spiritual well-being. The efforts to eliminate, as far as
possible, the serious harm caused by parasitic diseases to a
considerable part of humanity are inseparable from the efforts which
should be made for the socioeconomic development of those same
peoples. Human beings normally need a basic minimum of health and
material goods in order to be able to live in a manner worthy of their
human and divine vocation. It is for this reason that Jesus turned
with infinite love to the sick and infirm, and that he miraculously
cured some of the diseases about which you have been concerned in
these past days. May the Lord inspire and assist the work of the
scientists and doctors who dedicate their research and profession to
the study and treatment of human infirmities, especially those which
are the most grave and humiliating
5. In addition to the question of parasitic diseases, the Academy has
been studying the question of a scourge of catastrophic dimensions and
gravity that could attack the health of humanity if a nuclear conflict
were to break out. Over and above the death of a considerable part of
the world's population, a nuclear conflict could have incalculable
effects on the health of the present and future generations.
The multi-disciplinary study which you are preparing to undertake
cannot fail to be for the Heads of State a reminder of their
tremendous responsibilities, and arouse in all humanity an ever more
intense desire which comes from the most profound depths of the human
heart, and also from the message of Christ who came to bring peace to
people of good will.
By virtue of my universal mission, I wish to make myself once more the
spokesman of the human right to justice and peace, and of the will of
God who wishes all people to be saved. And I renew the appeal that I
made at Hiroshima on February 25 of this year: "Let us pledge
ourselves to peace through justice; let us now take a solemn decision,
that war will never be tolerated or sought as a means of resolving
differences; let us promise our fellow human beings that we will work
untiringly for disarmament and the banishing of all nuclear weapons;
let us replace violence and hate with confidence and caring".
6. Among the efforts to be made in order to secure the peace of
humanity, there is the effort to ensure for all peoples the energy
needed for their peaceful development. The Academy concerned itself
with this problem during its Study Week last year. I am happy to be
able to award today the Pius XI Gold Medal to a scientist who has
contributed in an outstanding way, by his research in the field of
photo-chemistry, to the utilization of solar energy: Professor Jean-
Marie Lehn of the College de France and the University of Strasbourg,
and I express to him my most cordial congratulations.
To all of you, I offer my sincere compliments on the work which you
are doing in scientific research. I pray that Almighty God will bless
you, your families, your loved ones, your collaborators, and the whole
of humanity, for whom in diverse yet converging ways you and I are
carrying out the mission which has been entrusted to us by God.
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