Cardinal Ratzinger Calls Relativism "Greatest Problem of Our Time"

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Date: 2003-09-26

Cardinal Ratzinger Calls Relativism "Greatest Problem of Our Time"

Prefect of Doctrinal Congregation Publishes a New Book

ROME, SEPT. 26, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Mindful that interreligious dialogue has become a crucial issue in theology, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has made his own contribution with a new book.

"The real problem is that of truth," the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith writes in the just-released "Fede, verità, tolleranza -- Il cristianesimo e le religioni del mondo" (Faith, Truth, Tolerance -- Christianity and the World Religions).

The cardinal says that relativism -- which considers all opinions as true, even if they are contradictory -- "is the greatest problem of our time."

In essence, his research seeks to establish "whether relativism is really the assumption necessary for tolerance; whether religions are really all the same," or whether, in fact, "truth can be known."

The volume of just under 300 pages, released by Cantagalli Publishers, is mostly a re-edited collection of addresses the cardinal has given over the past decade. The first, however, is a 1964 article in which he gives a phenomenological study of religions in order to show what makes Christianity different.

"Tolerance and respect for the other seem to have imposed the idea of the equivalence of all religions," the author says in the chapter entitled "Variations on the Topic of Faith, Religion and Culture."

But in the light of Christian Revelation he affirms that "in Christ, we have been given a new gift, the essential gift -- the truth -- and, therefore, we have the duty to give it freely to others."

To "say that there really is a truth, a binding and valid truth in history in the person of Jesus Christ and in the faith of the Church, is considered as fundamentalism and is presented as a genuine attack against the modern spirit and as a manifold threat against its supreme good: tolerance and freedom," the cardinal writes.

Yet, "to renounce the truth does not save man," he continues. On the contrary, "Christian faith impels inexorably toward the question of truth," keeping in mind that "truth does violence to no one."

"Only if the Christian faith is truth, does it concern all men," otherwise it would be a simple expression of a culture, the cardinal observes.

In the new world without dogmas, or in which the only dogma is relativism, the great challenge consists in "the meeting of faith and reason," the author states.

If it is possible to find the truth, what could be the relations between the diverse religions? The cardinal replies with a question: "Must not man be searching, making the effort to have a purified conscience and in this way get closer -- at least this! -- to the purest forms of religion?"

Hence, Christians must not "just communicate a structured ensemble of institutions and ideas, but the most profound dimension of the faith: real contact with Christ," he says.

"What leads men to God," he adds, "is the dynamics of the conscience and of the silent presence of God in it, and not the canonization of that which exists from one moment to the next, which exempts men from a more profound search."

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45@hotmail.com), September 27, 2003

Answers

!!!!

Thank you for that Bill!

For any other Cardinal Ratzinger fans here is a link to a transcript of an interview by EWTN News Director Raymond Arroyo of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, which first aired on EWTN on 5 September 2003.

THE WORLD OVER: CARDINAL RATZINGER INTERVIEW

Additionally, here is a link to a Catholic forum specific to the topic of Cardinal Ratzinger:

Catholic Online Forum Index -> RATZINGER WATCH

-- Daniel Hawkenberry (dlm@catholic.org), September 27, 2003.


Relativism is NOT the 'greatest problem of our time', Cardinal Ratzinger. SIN is the 'greatest problem of our time'.

-- (dutche@sbcglobal.net), September 28, 2003.

Sin is the greatest problem of every time. Saying this means nothing as far as any problems the current church might be facing. As an example, When you go to your doctor and ask what you need to do to be healthy does she say "well, breathe, if you don't breathe, you'll die"? No? Well same thing Dutch. Everyone needs to breathe so there's no point in saying it. What the Cardinal was attempting was to show what he thought the specific thing we currently needed to work on was. If you were to ask him "shouldn't we work on not sinning"? I'm sure he'd say "of course!" just like your doctor would tell you to breathe if you asked them about it.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), September 28, 2003.


What you say is true, Frank, when seen from one angle.
However, I think that Cardinal Ratzinger is directly contradicting "dutchee." I think that he is saying that the heresy of moral relativism is an even "great[er] problem of our time" than sin, because it is the grave foundational error that leads to so much of the sin itself! Once people started thinking (especially since 1965) that each of us can have a "personal morality" -- wherein an action by one may be a sin but not for another -- the number of gravely immortal actions skyrocketed. When society had much less moral relativism, there was far less grave sin.

Tear out the roots (moral relativism) and the bad fruit dies.

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), September 29, 2003.


John,

That could be the case alright. I haven't read the Cardinals own words on the subject, so I don't know for sure, and am just putting something out there for Dutchee to think about.

Also, but unrelated, my family went to a glass-blowing factory back East on our vacation, and they had a guy giving demonstrations of techniques. One of the things he made was a "witches ball" that people used to put around their house to stop witches from entering (the witch would apparently get trapped inside). Anyway, someone asked if they worked or not. The guy blowing the glass didn't give an answer, but how could ANYONE turn down saying, "well, do you SEE any witches around anymore?"

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), September 29, 2003.



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