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To the international conference on God:
Benedict XVI reiterates the Christian task
to make God present in the world
More than 2,000 perticipants are registered for the international conference on God organized by the Cultural Project of the Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI) which opened today in Rome at the Auditorium on Via della Conciliazione. It is sponsored by the city and commune of Rome.
Before expressing his own greetings to open the conference, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president of the CEI, expressed his thanks to the Holy Father, Primate of Italy, "for the letter which he was good enough to send me for this occasion, highlighting the theme and primary purpose of this international event to discuss God".
Day 1 of the conference is on the theme 'God of the faith, God of the philosophers'. Opening day speakers were Cardinal Bagnasco and the Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno; historian Andrea Riccardi of the Sant'Egidio Community; Cardinal Camilo Ruini, head of the CEI Cultural project; and German philosopher Robert Spaemann.
The newly redesigned web site of the CEI carries the proceedings on streaming video in real time.
www.chiesacattolica.it/cci2009/index.html
Click on the conference logo 'DIO OGGI' for direct access to the conference proceedings.
The CEI has released the text of the Holy Father's letter, translated below:
To my Venerated Brother
Cardinal ANGELO BAGNASCO
Archbishop of Genoa
President of the Italian Bishops' Conference
On the occasion of the conference "Dio oggi: con lui o senza di lui cambia tutto", which takes place in Rome December 10-12, I wish to express to you, venerated Brother, to the Italian bishops' conference, particularly to the Committee for the Cultural Project, my sincere appreciation for such an important initiative which confronts one of teh great issues that has always fascinated and interpellated the human spirit.
The question of God is central even for our age, which often tends to reduce man to one dimension, the 'horizontal', considering an opening to the Transcendent as irrelevant to hils life.
On the contrary, the relationship with God, is essential for mankind's journey, and as I have had occasion to affirm many times, it is the task of the Church and every Christian to make God present in the world, to seek to open for man the way to God.
This is the perspective for this international event. The breadth of the approach to the issue which characterizes the conference will allow drawing up a rich and detailed framework for the question of God, but above all, it will be a stimulus for more profound reflection on the place that God occupies in the culture and life of our time.
On the one hand, it will show the various ways that lead towards affirming the truth regarding the existence of God, the God that mankind has always known in some way, even in the shadows of history, the God who revealed himself with the splendor of his face to the People of Israel, and beyond every measure and hope, fully and definitively in Jesus Christ.
He is the Son of God, the Living One who enters human life and history to enlighten with his grace, with his presence.
On the other hand, it will highlight the essential importance that God has for us, for our personal and social life, for understanding our own selves and the world, for the hope that illumines our journey, for the salvation that awaits us beyond death.
The many interventions will be addressed to these objectives, according to multiple perspectives that will be the object of study and discussion: from philosophical and theological reflection to the testimonies of the great religions; from the impulse towards God which finds expression in music, literature, the figurative arts, cinema and television, to the developments in science which seek to read profoundly into the mechanisms of nature, fruit of the Creator God's intelligent work; from the analysis of personal experiences of God to considerations of the social and political dynamics in a world that has become globalized.
In the spiritual and cultural situation such as we are experiencing, where the tendency to relegate God to the private sphere is growing, to consider him irrelevant and superfluous, or to reject him explicitly, I hope with all my heart that this event may contribute at the very least to dissipate the shadows that make an opening to God precarious and fearsome for the man of our time, although God never ceases to knock on our door.
The experience of the past that is not so far removed from us teaches us that when God disappears from man's horizon, mankind loses orientation and is in danger of taking steps towards his own destruction.
Faith in God opens man to a sure hope that does not disappoint. It indicates the solid foundation on which one can rest one's life without fear. It asks us to abandon ourselves with trust into the hands of Love that supports the world.
To you, Eminence, to all who have contributed to prepare for this conference, to the lecturers and all the participants, my heartfelt greeting and wishes for the full success of this initiative.
I will accompany your work with my prayers and with my Apostolic Blessing as a token of that light from above that makes us capable of finding in God our treasure and our hope.
From the Vatican
December 7, 2009
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 11/12/2009 02:51] |