Vatican City, Dec 16, 2009 / 09:42 am
The Holy Father addressed pilgrims on Wednesday morning with a message that applied of the medieval theologian John of Salisbury's reflections on the natural law to the moral and ethical issues of today. Drawing on the English theologian's teachings, the Pope said that logic and reason still have a place in today's society, especially on the issues of abortion, euthanasia and marriage.
John began his life in Salisbury, England, but he would eventually flee the tyranny of King Henry II to France, along with St. Thomas Becket, where he would become a part of the Chartres school of theology, the Pope explained to those who were gathered in the Paul VI Hall.
In his catechesis, Pope Benedict highlighted a pair of works that were written by John that "help us to comprehend how the faith, in harmony with just aspirations and reason, pushes thought towards the revealed truth, in which is found the real good of man."
The Pontiff first drew attention to John's work called “Metaloghicon,” meaning In Defense of Logic, which proposed that human knowledge is "imperfect, as it is subject to finiteness, to the limit of man." He wrote that "only in God is there perfect science."