is an

encyclical An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin (originally fr ...

promoted by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

on 14 September 1998. It was one of 14 encyclicals issued by John Paul II. The encyclical primarily addresses the relationship between faith and reason. Cardinal

Georges Cottier Georges Marie Martin Cottier (; 25 April 1922 – 31 March 2016) was a Swiss Catholic prelate who served as Theologian of the Pontifical Household under Pope John Paul II from 1990 to 2005, after a career as a theologian and teacher. He was a ...

, who was secretary general of the

International Theological Commission The International Theological Commission (ITC) is a body of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church; it advises the magisterium of the church, particularly the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), a dicastery of the Roman Curia. Its m ...

from 1989 to 2003, says he was part of the drafting of the encyclical.In a
interview in "30Days"
3-2004, accessed 17 February 2013, Cottier remarked: "Going back to the early years, the first "big" text I worked on was the social encyclical Centesimus annus. And then the Ut unum sint on ecumenicalism, the moral encyclical Veritatis splendor, and the Fides et ratio... also the Catechism of the Catholic Church".

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was the first encyclical since

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

's 1879 '' Aeterni Patris'' to address the relationship between faith and reason. The encyclical posits that faith and reason are not only compatible but essential together. He starts with "Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth;" Faith without reason, he argues, leads to

superstition A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic (supernatural), magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly app ...

. Reason without faith, he argues, leads to

nihilism Nihilism () encompasses various views that reject certain aspects of existence. There have been different nihilist positions, including the views that Existential nihilism, life is meaningless, that Moral nihilism, moral values are baseless, and ...

and

relativism Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to absolute objectivity within a particular domain and assert that valuations in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assess ...

. He writes: Although reason creates a "systematic body of knowledge," the Pope avers, its completeness is illusory: Without a grounding in spiritual truth, he continues, reason has: On the roles of philosophy and speculative theology as manifested by

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

: On the wrong turns in modern philosophy and the duty of the magisterium: In sum, the Pope "makes this strong and insistent appeal" that "faith and philosophy recover the profound unity which allows them to stand in harmony with their nature without compromising their mutual autonomy. The

parrhesia In rhetoric, parrhesia () is candid speech, speaking freely. It implies not only freedom of speech, but the obligation to speak the truth for the common good, even at personal risk. Etymology The earliest recorded use of the term ''parrhesia'' ...

of faith must be matched by the boldness of reason".

References

External links

''Fides et Ratio''
full text of the Latin original from the Vatican website

full text of the English translation from the Vatican website {{Authority control 1998 documents 1998 in Christianity Christian belief and doctrine Christian philosophy Papal encyclicals Religious philosophical literature Documents of Pope John Paul II September 1998 Faith in Christianity

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