FAITH AND REASON

The encyclical "Fides et ratio" is inserted in that long tradition which has seen between faith and human reason an understanding not only possible--from the fathers of the Church, of East and West, but necessary. The truth is one, and both roads lead to it, contributing to their knowledge and dissemination. The intention of this Encyclical is reflected in this paragraph that is part of its conclusions: «the Church, by insisting on the importance and the true dimensions of philosophical thinking, promotes simultaneously both the defense of the dignity of man and the announcement of the Gospel message. To such tasks, the most urgent today is bring men to discover their ability to know the truth and their longing for a last and definitive meaning of existence. In the perspective of these deep needs, inscribed by God in human nature, the human and humanising meaning of the word of God is even more clear. Thanks to the mediation of a philosophy that has come to be also true wisdom, contemporary man will come as well to recognize that it will be both more man, giving in to the Gospel, more open to Christ».