This afternoon, at the Chancellery Palace in Rome, the XXIII Public Session of the Pontifical Academy took place, focused on the theme: Eternity, the other face of life.
The working sessions were introduced by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Coordinating Council of the Pontifical Academies.
During the session, before awarding this year's Pontifical Academy Prize, the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin read the following Message which had been sent by the Holy Father.
To our venerable brother
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi
President of the Pontifical Council for Culture
and the Coordinating Council of the Pontifical Academies
I greet you on the occasion of the 23rd Solemn Public Session of the Pontifical Academies, an event which took place in 1995 following the reform of the Pontifical Academies desired by Saint John Paul II, which was an important and by now traditional step on the path of the seven Academies gathered in the Council Coordination Committee, which is chaired by you. Coinciding with the annual session, the award ceremony is held, organized in turn by one of the Academies, depending on the sector in question. An award that I gladly present to promote and support the commitment of those who especially through young people or institutions working with young people, distinguish themselves in their respective sectors to contribute to the promotion of a new Christian humanism.
Therefore, I extend my cordial greetings to all those present, Cardinals, Bishops, Ambassadors, Academics and friends who are taking part in this Solemn Public Session; my sincere hope is that this customary meeting may be for everyone - starting with the winners of the Prize - an encouragement to research and deepen the fundamental themes for a Christian humanistic vision.
This XXIII gathering was organized by the Pontifical Academy of Theology and the Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas. A special greeting to the Presidents of these two Academies, the Reverend Father Réal Tremblay and the Reverend Father Serge-Thomas Bonino, and to the respective Academicians. I thank you for your commitment, witnessed above all by the magazine Path, published by the Academy of Theology, which proposes to readers - as the title suggests - an itinerary, a journey of research and of theological study.
I congratulate you on the choice of the theme of this Public Session: Eternity, the other face of life, which inspires us to reflect more and more on an area - not only theological - which, though essential and central to the Christian experience, it is rather neglected, both in the theological research of the most recent years and above all in the proclamation and formation of believers.
I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, we affirm every Sunday, reciting the last article of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. And the Apostles' Creed closes with these words: I believe ... the resurrection of the flesh, and eternal life. It is therefore a question of the essential core of the Christian faith, of a reality closely linked to the profession of faith in Christ who died and rose again. Yet the eschatological reflection on eternal life and resurrection, in the catechesis and in celebration, does not find the space and attention it deserves. One sometimes has the impression that this theme is deliberately forgotten and left out because it is apparently far away, foreign to everyday life and to contemporary sensibility.
There is not much to wonder about: one of the phenomena that marks the current culture, in fact, is precisely the closure of transcendent horizons, the withdrawal within oneself, the almost exclusive attachment to the present, forgetting or censoring the dimensions of the past and above all the future, perceived, especially by young people, as obscure and full of uncertainties. The future beyond death appears, in this context, inevitably even more distant, indecipherable or completely nonexistent.
But the little attention to the theme of eternity, to Christian hope that the resurrection and eternal life proclaims in God and with God, can also depend on other factors: for example, the traditional language, used in preaching or catechesis to announce this truth of faith, may seem today almost incomprehensible and sometimes transmits a little positive and attractive image of eternal life. The other face of life can thus be perceived as monotonous and repetitive, boring, even sad or totally insignificant and irrelevant to the present.
Not so was the great Father of the Church, Gregory of Nyssa, who, in a homily on the Song of Songs (VIII) - which will be opportunely re-proposed during this session - offered a very different vision of eternity. In fact, eternal life is conceived by him as an existential condition that is not static but dynamic and lively. The human desire for life and happiness, closely connected to that of seeing and knowing God, continually grows and renews itself, passing from one stage to another without ever finding its end and fulfillment. In fact, the experience of the encounter with God transcends all human conquests and constitutes the infinite and ever-new goal.
Saint Thomas Aquinas also points out this aspect, affirming that in eternal life the union of man with God, which is the reward and the end of all our labours, is accomplished, and this union consists in perfect vision of him. In this state, Saint Thomas continues, every blessed will have more than he desired and hoped for ... and only God can satisfy him, even going far beyond, to infinity". Furthermore, he continues, eternal life consists in the joyful fraternity of all the saints. Citing Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas affirms: All joy will not enter the blessed, but all the blessed will enter into joy ... Let us contemplate his face, we will be satisfied with his presence in an eternally renewed youth (Conferences on the Creed, Article 12).
The reflection of the Fathers of the Church and of the great theologians should then help us and encourage us to reproduce effectively and passionately - both with a language appropriate to our daily life and with the appropriate depth - the heart of our faith, the hope that animates us and gives strength to our Christian witness in the world: the beauty of Eternity.
I hope that - both on the theological level and on the level of proclamation, catechesis and Christian formation - we renew our interest and reflection on eternity, without which the dimension of the present becomes devoid of a final meaning, the capacity for renewal, hope in the future.
Wishing, therefore, to promote and encourage theological research, and particularly that aimed at deepening eschatological themes, I am pleased to award the Pontifical Academies Prize, ex aequo, to two young scholars: Doctor Stefano Abbate, for the Doctoral Thesis entitled La secularización de la esperanza cristiana a través de la gnosis y el ebiionismo. Estudio sobre and modern mesianism; and Doctor Francisco Javier Pueyo Velasco, for his work La plenitud terrena del Reino de Dios en la historia de la teología.
In addition, I am pleased to award a Pontifical Medal to Doctor Guillermo Contin Aylón, for the thesis: Vado ad Patrem. La Ascension de Cristo en el Comentario a Juan de santo Tomas de Aquino.
Finally, I wish the Academies and all the participants taking part in your meetings a fruitful commitment to your respective fields of research, and I entrust each and every one of you to the Virgin Mary, who already enjoys the joyful vision of God in eternal life and intercedes for us, pilgrims in history, on our way to eternity.
With all my heart, I impart to all of you and to your families a special Apostolic blessing.
From the Vatican
4 December 2018
Francis
The working sessions were introduced by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Coordinating Council of the Pontifical Academies.
During the session, before awarding this year's Pontifical Academy Prize, the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin read the following Message which had been sent by the Holy Father.
Message of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
addressed to the Pontifical Academies
To our venerable brother
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi
President of the Pontifical Council for Culture
and the Coordinating Council of the Pontifical Academies
I greet you on the occasion of the 23rd Solemn Public Session of the Pontifical Academies, an event which took place in 1995 following the reform of the Pontifical Academies desired by Saint John Paul II, which was an important and by now traditional step on the path of the seven Academies gathered in the Council Coordination Committee, which is chaired by you. Coinciding with the annual session, the award ceremony is held, organized in turn by one of the Academies, depending on the sector in question. An award that I gladly present to promote and support the commitment of those who especially through young people or institutions working with young people, distinguish themselves in their respective sectors to contribute to the promotion of a new Christian humanism.
Therefore, I extend my cordial greetings to all those present, Cardinals, Bishops, Ambassadors, Academics and friends who are taking part in this Solemn Public Session; my sincere hope is that this customary meeting may be for everyone - starting with the winners of the Prize - an encouragement to research and deepen the fundamental themes for a Christian humanistic vision.
This XXIII gathering was organized by the Pontifical Academy of Theology and the Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas. A special greeting to the Presidents of these two Academies, the Reverend Father Réal Tremblay and the Reverend Father Serge-Thomas Bonino, and to the respective Academicians. I thank you for your commitment, witnessed above all by the magazine Path, published by the Academy of Theology, which proposes to readers - as the title suggests - an itinerary, a journey of research and of theological study.
I congratulate you on the choice of the theme of this Public Session: Eternity, the other face of life, which inspires us to reflect more and more on an area - not only theological - which, though essential and central to the Christian experience, it is rather neglected, both in the theological research of the most recent years and above all in the proclamation and formation of believers.
I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, we affirm every Sunday, reciting the last article of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. And the Apostles' Creed closes with these words: I believe ... the resurrection of the flesh, and eternal life. It is therefore a question of the essential core of the Christian faith, of a reality closely linked to the profession of faith in Christ who died and rose again. Yet the eschatological reflection on eternal life and resurrection, in the catechesis and in celebration, does not find the space and attention it deserves. One sometimes has the impression that this theme is deliberately forgotten and left out because it is apparently far away, foreign to everyday life and to contemporary sensibility.
There is not much to wonder about: one of the phenomena that marks the current culture, in fact, is precisely the closure of transcendent horizons, the withdrawal within oneself, the almost exclusive attachment to the present, forgetting or censoring the dimensions of the past and above all the future, perceived, especially by young people, as obscure and full of uncertainties. The future beyond death appears, in this context, inevitably even more distant, indecipherable or completely nonexistent.
But the little attention to the theme of eternity, to Christian hope that the resurrection and eternal life proclaims in God and with God, can also depend on other factors: for example, the traditional language, used in preaching or catechesis to announce this truth of faith, may seem today almost incomprehensible and sometimes transmits a little positive and attractive image of eternal life. The other face of life can thus be perceived as monotonous and repetitive, boring, even sad or totally insignificant and irrelevant to the present.
Not so was the great Father of the Church, Gregory of Nyssa, who, in a homily on the Song of Songs (VIII) - which will be opportunely re-proposed during this session - offered a very different vision of eternity. In fact, eternal life is conceived by him as an existential condition that is not static but dynamic and lively. The human desire for life and happiness, closely connected to that of seeing and knowing God, continually grows and renews itself, passing from one stage to another without ever finding its end and fulfillment. In fact, the experience of the encounter with God transcends all human conquests and constitutes the infinite and ever-new goal.
Saint Thomas Aquinas also points out this aspect, affirming that in eternal life the union of man with God, which is the reward and the end of all our labours, is accomplished, and this union consists in perfect vision of him. In this state, Saint Thomas continues, every blessed will have more than he desired and hoped for ... and only God can satisfy him, even going far beyond, to infinity". Furthermore, he continues, eternal life consists in the joyful fraternity of all the saints. Citing Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas affirms: All joy will not enter the blessed, but all the blessed will enter into joy ... Let us contemplate his face, we will be satisfied with his presence in an eternally renewed youth (Conferences on the Creed, Article 12).
The reflection of the Fathers of the Church and of the great theologians should then help us and encourage us to reproduce effectively and passionately - both with a language appropriate to our daily life and with the appropriate depth - the heart of our faith, the hope that animates us and gives strength to our Christian witness in the world: the beauty of Eternity.
I hope that - both on the theological level and on the level of proclamation, catechesis and Christian formation - we renew our interest and reflection on eternity, without which the dimension of the present becomes devoid of a final meaning, the capacity for renewal, hope in the future.
Wishing, therefore, to promote and encourage theological research, and particularly that aimed at deepening eschatological themes, I am pleased to award the Pontifical Academies Prize, ex aequo, to two young scholars: Doctor Stefano Abbate, for the Doctoral Thesis entitled La secularización de la esperanza cristiana a través de la gnosis y el ebiionismo. Estudio sobre and modern mesianism; and Doctor Francisco Javier Pueyo Velasco, for his work La plenitud terrena del Reino de Dios en la historia de la teología.
In addition, I am pleased to award a Pontifical Medal to Doctor Guillermo Contin Aylón, for the thesis: Vado ad Patrem. La Ascension de Cristo en el Comentario a Juan de santo Tomas de Aquino.
Finally, I wish the Academies and all the participants taking part in your meetings a fruitful commitment to your respective fields of research, and I entrust each and every one of you to the Virgin Mary, who already enjoys the joyful vision of God in eternal life and intercedes for us, pilgrims in history, on our way to eternity.
With all my heart, I impart to all of you and to your families a special Apostolic blessing.
From the Vatican
4 December 2018
Francis
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