Vatican City, Mar 7, 2008 / 09:26 am
On Friday, the Holy Father spoke with members of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences whose work he said is of “great interest for the life of the Church,” in a time when history is often ignored.
The Holy Father began by noting how during the pontificate of Leo XIII, "historiography was guided by the spirit of the times and hostile to the Church". Pope Leo "opened the archives of the Holy See to researchers ... in the conviction that the study and description of the true history of the Church could not but be favorable to her.”
In contemporary society, the Church is still challenged with an unfavorable view of its history as well, the Pope explained.
"It is no longer just a question of tackling a historiography hostile to Christianity and to the Church", he said. "Today it is historiography itself that is going through a serious crisis, having to fight for its very existence in a society ruled by positivism and materialism. These two ideologies have led to a boundless enthusiasm for progress which ... influences the view of life of large sectors of society. The past thus appears as a dark backdrop against which the present and future glitter with misleading promise."