http://www.youtube.com/vatican?gl=IT&hl=en-GB
Quoting the Pope (extract): "Politics and the Christian faith move us. Without doubt faith has a specific nature in the encounter with God, one that opens new horizons beyond the sphere of reason. Faith is a purifying force for reason itself, allowing it to better carry out its task."
What does all this mean? It might well be silken guileful papal prose making for sycophantic goosebumps, but it is so much nonsense.
First observation: the statement usurps the meaning of the word "reason". Semantics raises it's troublesome head yet again.
Second observation: If for a Christian the power of reason i.e. intellect, is a god-given gift (which it surely is) then how can "faith" in the unproven possibly eclipse reason? The disjointed non-sequitur nature of this 2nd December statement would suggest that the Pope has himself kicked his intellect into touch. Well, no surprise there!
The Pope effectively seems to be saying we should know when to turn off the power of reason for fear of being too rooted in reality. We can't have that can we! - well can we?
What could possibly lie beyond the sphere of reason? - wishful romantic thinking of course - for example, like faith in the hereafter born out of a fear of inevitable mortality. All very nice and placebo in its effect but rooted in falsity nonetheless. Damn it - if we weren't quite so exquisitely self-aware we would not have needed to concoct faith in god!
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