Back in January, Pope Benedict XVI canceled a planned visit to one of Rome's largest and oldest universities, La Sapienza University, where he was going to speak at an inaugural event at the start of the academic semester. The reason for his cancellation was in response to a letter signed by a group of professors from the University, condemning Pope Benedict as the enemy of science, and specifically inserting a quotation of the Pope concerning the trial of Galileo. The quotation, however, lacked the force of context, given that the Pope said the quoted remarks, not last week, or last year, or even while he was Pope, but rather 17 years ago in an academic lecture. And the quote was not even his own words, but rather the Pope himself was quoting an agnostic philosopher who said that the Church's treatment of Galileo was "rational and just." But who needs context when you can just throw dirt on your opponent?
A group of students, fueled by their professors' fervor, managed to organize a small protest, and an entire week dubbed "anti-cleric week." In the end, the protests were enough to give the Pope reason to avoid further conflict, and so he canceled his scheduled speech. After all, how fruitful would it be to visit a university to speak on issues such as faith and reason in education, when the atmosphere of many at the University is dogmatically anti-faith, and thus in many ways anti-reason? The intentions of the professors were achieved, that is, they intended to silence the Pope, and for that matter, they represent those who wish to remove any religious voice from the public square. Isn't it the motto of the modern academic scene that all voices should be heard, and all ideas are relevant? Why are they in the business of silencing people?
The professors have this idea that faith and reason are enemies, and are in all ways antithetical, and in fact, reason alone can lead a person to knowledge, and faith is useless. Therefore, religious voices are to be extricated from the public square. Sorry, Papa Benedetto.
The Pope has this idea that faith and reason are not enemies, but as his predecessor put it, are the "two wings on which the human spirit soars to the contemplation of truth." Therefore, scientific voices are welcome, but so are religious voices. This sounds like the kind of environment where actual thinking is done, and people actually use their entire being to contemplate truth. Thinking is not just in your brain, fellas, it's in your soul, too.
So is it wise to silence the voices of those who disagree with you academically? Is there any room for religious voices, especially ones that have given a large portion of their lives to academic study and the pursuit of wisdom? According to these professors and students of a university that is named "Wisdom" (Sapienza), there is no room for popes in academia.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, La Sapienza University was founded by Pope Boniface VIII in 1303.
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