Believing, Loving and Living Truth
XIII Plenary Session 21-23 June 2013 – Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed the Year of Faith with the Apostolic Letter given Motu Proprio Porta fidei, dated 11 October 2011. He wrote: «We want this Year to arouse in every believer the aspiration to profess the faith in fullness and with renewed conviction, with confidence and hope. It will also be a good opportunity to intensify the celebration of the faith in the liturgy, especially in the Eucharist, which is “the summit towards which the activity of the Church is directed; ... and also the source from which all its power flows”». at the same time, the Holy Father expressed the hope that «believers’ witness of life may grow in credibility. To rediscover the content of the faith that is professed, celebrated, lived and prayed, and to reflect on the act of faith, is a task that every believer must make his own, especially in the course of this Year». (Pope Benedict XVI, Porta fidei, 9).
The Pontifical Academy of St Thomas wishes to join the Pope’s inspired decision and rediscover with Aquinas those moments of faith intended as the intimate union of act and content, so characteristic of his thought, which the Magisterium of the Popes has continuously recommended, although at times its main features have been obscured by the inevitably process of summarization in order to be taught. If it were not possible to read St Thomas’ texts in their original strength and in the light of the real and demonstrated truths that the development of human thought presents, our fate would be pure repetition or error, attitudes that are both contrary to the truth. Therefore more than ever in this Year of Faith the Academy of St Thomas is called to revisit faith both in its subjective and in its objective aspects (fides qua – fides quae) in the light of the angelic doctor’s teachings, in order to renew our conviction, celebration, testimony and confession. Moreover, this is the attitude needed to provide an effective contribution to the implementation of the Church’s new and ongoing evangelization programme.
Related
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2013 Proceedings
Proceedings of the XIII Plenary Session on Believing, Loving and Living Truth | Credere, amare e vivere la verità 21-23 June 2013 (Vatican City, 2014) 226 pp., ISBN 978-88-88353-20-3 ... Read more
