The Thomistic legacy in Blessed John Paul II and his refounding of the Pontifical Academy of St Thomas Aquinas
XII Plenary Session 29 June - 1 July 2012 – The Blessed John Paul II changed the course of his- tory on a par with Gregory the Great and Leo the Great. Not only did He free Europe from the communist ideology and praxis, but, thanks to the strengths of his Magisterium, his prayers, his ideas and actions, He ferried the Church into the Third Millennium with renewed apostolic dynamism. As He affirms, “since the beginning of my Pontificate, I’ve never missed any propitious opportunity to recall the unique figure of St Thomas”, the Doctor Communis of the Church. Indeed, in the wake of the Encyclical Fides et ratio, which reinterprets in the context of modernity Aquinas’ thought on the transcendental themes of truth, good and being, the Blessed John Paul II decided to refound the Pontifical Academy of St Thomas in order to give it a more active role in the programme of the new evangelization. Therefore, in compliance with the Beatification of Pope John Paul II by Pope Benedict XVI, the Pontifical Academy of St Thomas would like to recognize this admirable work not only out of gratefulness but also as a commitment and mission. On the occasion of the feast day of Sts Peter and Paul, the Roman and Catholic celebration of the Holy Father, the Pontifical Academy of St Thomas invites all of its Academicians, and all those who witnessed John Paul II’s pontificate, to unite in prayer and in the celebration of the happily reigning Benedict XVI, and to reflect on the special relationship between St Thomas and the blessed John Paul II, the heavenly patrons of the Academy.
Related
