Pope Benedict's planned speech at La Sapienza University

Pope Benedict was scheduled to deliver a speech at La Sapienza University in Rome at the beginning of the academic year. In the face of a planned protest, the Vatican cancelled the speech because of a lack of the "prerequisites for a dignified and tranquil welcome." The speech the Pope had planned to deliver has been released. Here is a link. The speech, a follow-up to the Pope's Regensburg address, is quite interesting. In the course of the speech, Benedict discusses Rawls and Habermas.

The speech is marked by Benedict's characteristic humility. His main emphasis is on the importance of the university in the pursuit of truth. He mentions the danger that reason --"if it wants only to construct itself on the basis of the circle of its own arguments and that which convinces it at the moment--worried about its secularity--...will cut itself off from the roots by which it lives; then it will not become more reasonable and more pure, but it will break apart and disintegrate."

He closes with a mention of how he sees his role as Pope--"to continaully invite reason to seek out the true, the good, God, and on this path, to urge it to glimpse the helpful lights that shine forth in the history of the Christian faith, and in this way to perceive Jesus Christ as the Light that illuminates history and helps us to find the way to the future." It's a pity that Benedict was not welcomed to deliver this message in person.

Richard M.