Vatican City, Oct 31, 2008 / 18:04 pm
Yesterday evening the Holy Father met with professors and students from the Roman pontifical universities to kick off the academic year. In his remarks, the Pope clarified how to avoid pride by becoming “truly wise before God.”
Pope Benedict XVI began his address to the audience by distinguishing between the wisdom of God and the “wisdom of the world.” The Pontiff affirmed that the latter “is a way of living and seeing things divorced from God, following dominant opinions according to the criteria of success and power.” However, he continued, “‘Divine wisdom' consists in following the mind of Christ; it is Christ who opens the eyes of the heart to follow the path of truth and love.”
Tying in the Apostle to the Gentiles, Pope Benedict went on to say that “St. Paul exhorts those who consider themselves wise according to the criteria of the world to 'become fools' in order to become truly wise before God.” He continued, “Paul - following Jesus - opposes a type of intellectual pride in which human beings, even though knowing much, lose the sensibility of truth and the ability to open themselves to the newness of divine action."
The Pope recalled that St. Paul "denounced the poison of false wisdom, which is human pride.”