Lisbon, Portugal, May 12, 2010 / 12:55 pm
In Portugal on Wednesday, the Holy Father highlighted the importance of the Second Vatican Council in bringing the Church into contact with the world. The foundation for Catholic renewal and a "civilization of love" were laid through it, he said.
Speaking with the cultural leaders of Portugal at the Cultural Center of Belem, in Lisbon, Pope Benedict emphasized the importance of the Church's role in keeping the search for truth alive in the world. He highlighted the need for Church and society to engage in respectful and unambiguous dialogue for the good of humankind.
Proposing a concrete example of the Church's attempts to enter into dialogue with the world, Pope Benedict referred to the Second Vatican Council, which he said, citing the words of Pope John XXIII, was convened "precisely so as 'to place the modern world in contact with the life-giving and perennial energies of the Gospel.'”
"There," he continued, "the Church, on the basis of a renewed awareness of the Catholic tradition, took seriously and discerned, transformed and overcame the fundamental critiques that gave rise to the modern world, the Reformation and the Enlightenment."