From a religious point of view, not all Christian denominations viewed this the same way. The Catholic Church never seems to have considered the existence of fossils to be a major obstacle to biblical faith. Pope Pius XII advanced this dialogue in Humani Generis (1950), distinguishing between the scientific investigation of human origins and the theological truths concerning the human person. Reflecting on Humani Generis, John Paul II later observed that Pius XII had already clarified “that there was no opposition between evolution and the doctrine of the faith about man and his vocation” (Pope St. John Paul II, “Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on ‘The Origins and Early Evolution of Life’”, 22 October 1996).

Leave a comment

The Popes were open to considering evolution a serious possibility, as long as researchers were not making claims from outside their realm of expertise about the meaning of life or revelation. Pope St. John Paul II advanced the conversation further by emphasizing the proper relationship between scientific inquiry, philosophy, and theology.

“More Than a Hypothesis”

When he met with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, John Paul stated that 150 years later, he had to consider evolution to be “more than a hypothesis”. This statement sent shock waves throughout the scientific community and among more conservative Christian circles. Had the Pope accepted evolution as a fact? Did this mean that he was rejecting the value of Revelation? Of course not, and a closer reading of his discourse makes that easy to understand.

As a philosopher, John Paul II recognized that beyond the given data, there are different possible interpretations of the data, identifying the materialist, reductionist, and spiritualist tendencies off the bat. Faith and reason don’t have to collide, especially when they are responding to different questions.

Characteristically, Karol Wojtyła’s first concern is with the human person, hearkening back to his fascination with Gaudium et Spes 22 that he expressed so eloquently in his first encyclical Redemptor Hominis. Here, it takes the following form.

The Church’s Magisterium is directly concerned with the question of evolution, for it involves the conception of man. Revelation teaches us that he was created in the image and likeness of God (Pope St. John Paul II, “Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on ‘The Origins and Early Evolution of Life’”, 22 October 1996).

Unique Value of Man

Man is the only creature on earth willed for his own sake. God could employ evolutionary processes in preparing the material conditions for humanity while directly creating each spiritual soul. The existence of dinosaurs or countless extinct species poses no theological difficulty. They belong to the richness of creation, whose ultimate purpose is fulfilled in the appearance of creatures capable of knowing and loving their Creator.

Share

Only man can live in communion, solidarity, and self-giving with his peers. This sets him apart from the rest of creation. His likeness to God comes especially through his capacity to know truth freely and to love. He is called to a relationship of knowledge and love with God himself, a higher vocation than any of the animals of creation enjoy. Along with biblical revelation, this leads to one of the basic tenets of Christian faith, the spiritual soul.

Answering Evolution

Theories of evolution become incompatible with Christianity only when they are transformed into a philosophy that denies the spiritual soul or reduces the human person to nothing more than another rung of the evolutionary process. Pope John Paul II’s philosophical distinction makes clear that this debate is not scientific but philosophical.

His confidence in the harmony of faith and reason explains why he welcomed scientific inquiry rather than feared it. Already in the Gospel, Jesus had said, “the truth will set you free” (Jn. 8:32).

Facts and Interpretation

To understand Karol Wojtyla’s thought on the matter, we have to understand the difference between facts and interpretation. There are certain facts: dinosaur bones exist, there is some sort of evolutionary process, and not all species last forever. These are facts, and there is no reason to dispute them. The interpretation matters immensely, however. If someone argues that evolution therefore proves the human person is nothing more than an advanced animal, science has ended and philosophy has begun.

As there should be a continuous deepening of human knowledge through scientific investigation, faith and religion can offer a purifying influence, making sure that the desire to investigate human subjectivity does not lead men and women to forget that they “are always called to direct their steps towards a truth which transcends them” (Pope St. John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 5). His natural love for the truth made it impossible for the Pope to fear scientific discovery. He just wanted to make sure that it would be interpreted in a way that did not threaten the good of human beings.

Dinosaur fossils, genetics, and evolutionary biology tell us much about how life has developed. They cannot answer why the human person exists or what destiny ultimately awaits him. Those questions belong to philosophy, theology, and ultimately divine revelation. John Paul II never feared scientific discoveries because he believed that authentic science and authentic faith are allies in the search for truth.

Thanks to a reader who suggested today’s topic. If something strikes your fancy, comment or send me a message.

Is Religion Pragmatic or Metaphysical?

This understanding of religion treats its value as primarily pragmatic rather than metaphysical. This view sees religion as important for what it does and does not concern itself with the value of its truth claims. This stands in marked contrast to Pope John Paul II’s vision. For John Paul II, the real question is not whether science can replace religion or philosophy, but whether all three seek the same truth by different methods. Science investigates the natural world, philosophy reflects on reason and being, and religion asks about humanity’s ultimate origin and destiny. Scientific inquiry can itself become a path by which the scientist encounters God.

In his book, Miracles, C.S. Lewis reflected that “Men became scientific because they expected Law in Nature, and they expected Law in Nature because they believed in a Legislator.” This goes along well with Karol Wojtyła’s basic intuition that truth is objective and goes beyond what we can make up ourselves. There can be no contradiction between true faith and reason, as they work together to attain the truth. John Paul II famously described faith and reason as “two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth” (Pope St. John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, introduction).

His respect for faith and reason motivated his continuous dialogue with science throughout his priesthood and papacy.

He spoke to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, encouraging scientists to use their scientific inquiry to complete their own humanity. “Every scientist, through personal study and research, completes himself and his own humanity” (Pope St. John Paul II, “Address to the members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences”, 13 November 2000). For Karol Wojtyla, the question always returns to what it means to be human.

Tool To Understand Our Place in the Cosmos

He saw science as an important tool to understand man and his place in the universe. Scientific discoveries continually expand our understanding of the universe. Science may tell us how stars form or how life develops, but it cannot determine why there is something rather than nothing, whether human dignity possesses objective value, or what constitutes a good life. These are philosophical and religious questions because they concern meaning rather than mechanism.

No matter how large our body of scientific knowledge grows, there will always be questions that are beyond the realm of science to adequately answer. The number of particles contained within the observable Universe is finite; the amount of information encoded in all the Universe is finite; no matter how much we learn, the amount that we know will always be finite. Beyond all definite knowledge, there will always be room for philosophy (Ethan Siegel, “No, Science Will Never Make Philosophy Or Religion Obsolete”, 30 June 2020).

The issue is not how much scientific knowledge humanity eventually acquires. Even if the natural sciences one day explained every physical process in the universe, they would still leave unanswered questions that belong to philosophy and theology: Why is there something rather than nothing? Is there objective moral truth? What determines the dignity of a person? What is the ultimate meaning of life? Even if scientific knowledge continued to expand indefinitely, the fundamental questions of meaning, purpose, and morality would remain.

A Different Role for Religion

John Paul II proposes a different role for religion than what many secular thinkers assume. It is not meant to be a tool for collaboration, but a vehicle to arrive at the truth.

Science can purify religion from error and superstition; religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. Each can draw the other into a wider world, a world in which both can flourish (Pope St. John Paul II, “Letter to Reverend George Coyne, SJ”, 1 June 1988).

Religion cannot be reduced to superstition, but it risks becoming so when there is not a rigorous confrontation with objective truth. Scientific inquiry offers an important dialogue that helps religion distinguish authentic faith from superstition and continually purify its understanding of the created world.

Boldness and Confidence

Sometimes, it feels like believers approach new scientific discoveries defensively, as if every advance were a threat to faith. This was not the case with Pope John Paul II. His confidence in objective truth, certainly bolstered by his philosophical background, made it so that he could never view scientific truth as an obstacle or a threat to his way of looking at the world.

If anything, new scientific discoveries can force us to rethink the way we look at certain realities of the world. Authentic faith has nothing to fear from genuine scientific discovery. Sometimes, these discoveries require believers to rethink longstanding assumptions about the natural world. But they never change the world as such. A true scientific method is more concerned with discovering the truth that is already there rather than reinterpreting the facts to fit a preconceived theory or ideology.

A New Spin on the Enlightenment

The Enlightenment period ushered in a new appreciation for knowledge and intellectual growth. It fostered much of scientific development and seemed at times to be at odds with religion. However, this exaltation of reason is not inherently threatening to religion. At its best, the Enlightenment challenged only forms of religion that were unwilling to submit their claims to the demands of reason and truth.

When some scientists during the 19^th and 20^th centuries tried to move from their scientific discoveries to make metaphysical claims, they naturally made some churchmen nervous. This was, however, never the case for Karol Wojtyła. For him, these scientific discoveries were only pushing the envelope of human knowledge and could ultimately only help us to understand humanity better and especially our place in the cosmos.

The Heavens Sing the Glory of God

Remembering Psalm 19, “the heavens declare the glory of God,” Pope John Paul II viewed scientific inquiry as an incredible ally for religion and theology.

Can theological method fruitfully appropriate insights from scientific methodology and the philosophy of science? (Pope St. John Paul II, “Letter to Reverend George Coyne, SJ”, 1 June 1988).

What does evolution mean for theological anthropology? How does astronomy deepen our understanding of creation? How might advances in neuroscience illuminate the mystery of the human person? These are not questions to be feared but welcomed. Every genuine scientific discovery enlarges our understanding of creation and therefore offers new opportunities to contemplate our Creator. When we approach the world with curiosity rather than fear, we become better able to hear what the Psalmist proclaimed long ago: “The heavens declare the glory of God.” (cf. Ps. 19)

Scientific advancements do not shrink the areas proper to faith. Rather, they widen the horizon, opening up new spaces to truth. Every genuine discovery in the natural sciences allows us to know more about the created world, and through that, the Creator. Science can explain how the world works, but philosophy seeks wisdom and religion directs the human person to the One who is the source of all truth. For Christianity, truth is not merely an abstract principle but rather a Person. The search for truth reaches its highest accomplishment in encountering Jesus Christ, who reveals both God and the human person to himself. Rather than rendering religion obsolete, scientific advances increase the reasons for wonder.

For John Paul II, communism failed not simply because it was economically inefficient, but because it rested on a false understanding of truth, human dignity, and freedom. Once truth is denied, freedom loses its direction. Once freedom is distorted, human dignity is threatened. Economic and political systems ultimately collapse when human dignity is threatened.

Truth

Communist regimes frequently subordinated truth to ideology. News and information were often manipulated to preserve the image of the state and advance the goals of the party. Marxist thought inherited from Hegel the conviction that history unfolds according to an intelligible process. Marx transformed this idealist framework into a materialist one but retained the tendency to interpret reality through a predetermined theory of historical development. Ideology is imposed upon society rather than tested against reality. In his social encyclical Centesimus Annus, John Paul II said that

Obedience to the truth about God and man is the first condition of freedom, making it possible for a person to order his needs and desires and to choose the means of satisfying them according to a correct scale of values, so that the ownership of things may become an occasion of growth for him (Pope St. John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 41).

Because Soviet Communism was explicitly atheistic, it rejected any public consideration of the truth about God. Yet it also distorted the truth about man. In its emphasis on praxis and production, the human person was often viewed primarily as a worker contributing to the historical project of building socialism. Human beings were valued less for who they were than for their role in transforming society.

Share

Human Dignity

When truth is subordinated to ideology, human dignity is inevitably endangered. Karol Wojtyła had seen in his experience as a priest and bishop that the authorities were more than ready to trample human rights to achieve their own goals. From his classes at the Jagiellonian University to his walks and outings with the students, Wojtyla loved to affirm the dignity of every human person. His conversations and musings took form as doctrine, building on truths expressed in the Pastoral Constitution of the Church, Gaudium et Spes.

In constantly reaffirming the transcendent dignity of the person, the Church’s method is always that of respect for freedom (Pope St. John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 46).

Karol Wojtyła had a deep respect for the truth and a clear vision of what he believed to be true. This never pushed him to be dogmatic with others, however. He was always happy to engage in religious dialogue and was fascinated by people who did not agree with him. He believed firmly in Jesus Christ, and precisely because of that faith, he believed just as firmly in the inviolable dignity of every human being.

Respect for human dignity naturally led Wojtyla to reflect on the meaning of freedom. If the person possesses an inviolable dignity, then society must create conditions in which that dignity can be exercised through authentic freedom.

Subscribe now

Freedom

Having lived under both Nazi occupation and Soviet domination, Karol Wojtyla understood firsthand how political systems can suppress authentic freedom. These experiences convinced him that freedom cannot mean solely the ability to choose. Freedom must be directed toward what is true and good. Although he recognized the economic shortcomings of communism, he believed that the deeper problem was anthropological: freedom detached from truth ultimately destroys itself.

Although John Paul II regarded democratic institutions and the free economy more favorably than communist systems, he never viewed them as self-sufficient. Freedom detached from truth could corrupt capitalism just as ideology had corrupted communism.

Both capitalism and communism require a foundation in truth if they are to respect the freedom that characterizes the human person. While ultimately judging the free market to be more conducive to human flourishing, he also recognized the corrupting effects of unbridled capitalism.

But freedom attains its full development only by accepting the truth. In a world without truth, freedom loses its foundation and man is exposed to the violence of passion and to manipulation, both open and hidden. The Christian upholds freedom and serves it, constantly offering to others the truth which he has known (cf. Jn 8:31-32), in accordance with the missionary nature of his vocation (Pope St. John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 46).

To understand the value of any system, it is important to analyze whether it lends itself to manipulation, and thus to corruption. Corrupt systems never serve the truth, human dignity, or freedom. Karol Wojtyla was convinced that there is a stable human nature and that social structures must be built according to that reality. When these structures are well-built, they foster the flourishing of all the individuals involved. The truth sets us free, and Christians are called to proclaim this good news to others.

For much of the twentieth century, Soviet communism seemed to be a permanent fixture on the world stage. Pope John Paul II remained convinced that a system built upon false assumptions about God, man, and freedom could not endure indefinitely. It would crumble under the weight of its own false presuppositions.

As human beings, we long for the truth about God, the world, and ourselves. Truth safeguards human dignity, and dignity demands authentic freedom. Freedom, in turn, must be directed toward what is good and lived according to the truth. When we do so, we help to build a civilization of love, with freedom for all.

Leave a comment

1. Why Truth Matters

2. Faith and Reason: Two Ways of Knowing

3. The University and the Search for Wisdom

4. Freedom Requires Truth

Bringing Polish Experience to the World Stage

Upon being elected Pope in 1978, Karol Wojtyła faced the challenge of bringing his experience of Poland to the universal Church. He had developed a strong voice demanding freedom. He had long supported the aspirations that would later find expression in the Solidarity Movement. He had advocated for building a church in the fully socialist city of Nowa Huta. He felt the hand of God, however, in the votes of his fellow cardinals and took up the papal mantle in an attitude of obedience.

He witnessed firsthand how Communist authorities controlled the press, censored publications, and restricted public discourse. His own appointment as bishop had been a miscalculation by Soviet authorities trying to place an innocuous candidate as auxiliary bishop of Krakow in 1958. He would end up being a great champion of truth and oppose the Communist authorities with every fiber of his being.

Although he had to leave Poland behind, his observation of his home country continued from the Apostolic Palace in Rome. Upon witnessing the breakup of the Soviet Union, he celebrated the newfound freedom of Poland. He did lament, however, certain corruptions of freedom he perceived in his homeland.

Freedom in Catholic Social Doctrine

1991 marked one hundred years since the publication of Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII’s groundbreaking document articulating Catholic Social Doctrine in the face of the Industrial Revolution. Several Popes of the 20^th century had written encyclicals building upon Rerum Novarum, responding to the social ills of their own days. Pope John Paul II had already written about the value of work in Laborem Exercens. He had responded to other social problems in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis.

In Centesimus Annus, he spoke out about freedom and truth once again, but sobered by some of the negative tendencies from the West flooding the former Soviet republics, particularly Poland. Instead of true freedom, license was spreading in the formerly oppressed places. John Paul II believed that both totalitarianism and license ultimately stem from a rejection of truth. In his encyclical, he reminded the world of the

essential bond between human freedom and truth, so that freedom which refused to be bound to the truth would fall into arbitrariness and end up submitting itself to the vilest of passions, to the point of self-destruction (Pope St. John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 4).

Truth over Tyranny

It can be hard for us to understand, as we are so inundated with the idea that absolute freedom is a basic value. However, even when standing up to totalitarianism and rejecting the claims of Marxist socialism, Karol Wojtyła recognized that the greatest evil was not the overt oppression of freedom but rather the suppression and manipulation of truth. Truth exposes the lies upon which totalitarian systems depend.

Pope John Paul II witnessed it from afar when the Solidarity Movement achieved a peaceful revolution in the Gdansk shipyard. Lech Wałęsa led the independent trade union and pressured the authorities to concede real freedom. The union would grow to have 10 million members and played a pivotal role in the eventual downfall of Communist rule in Poland. Freedom flourishes when society acknowledges reality rather than ideology.

Subscribe now

Value of Christian Anthropology

Because the defense of truth requires a correct understanding of the human person, Karol Wojtyła devoted much of his philosophical work to Christian anthropology. Knowing who we are as human beings helps to determine so many other questions of life. It is true that

from the Christian vision of the human person there necessarily follows a correct picture of society (Pope St. John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 14).

Through Christian anthropology, we know that man is naturally social. He is called to support the Common Good. These anthropological principles help us build a society that promotes authentic human flourishing and development.

Relation of Anthropology to Ethics

Ethics “has occupied itself very earnestly with the act and with man” (Karol Wojtyła, Person and Act, p. 104). All of ethics is primarily the study of acts that imply the person as agent. Man’s acts determine his moral character. Our human nature invites us to know truth and to do good. By recognizing this, we are able to build up the society that will be most effective at promoting true human development and flourishing.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, one of Pope John Paul II’s masterpieces, describes freedom in the following way.

Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1731).

This ability to act or not to act is inseparable from moral responsibility because every human action proceeds from a person who freely chooses. Here Wojtyła’s understanding of action differs sharply from Marxist approaches that emphasize historical processes and collective force over personal agency.

Refutation of Marxism

Marxist thought tends to evaluate actions primarily according to their historical or economic effects rather than the moral responsibility of the acting person. Wojtyła objected that every action originates in a person who remains morally accountable for what he chooses. By removing the person from the moral calculation, there is a risk in such thought to detach from truth and to judge all actions as morally neutral. When truth about the human person is obscured, power can replace morality as the measure of action. The result is often some form of totalitarianism.

Realism helps us to see that

man, who was created for freedom, bears within himself the wound of original sin, which constantly draws him towards evil and puts him in need of redemption (Pope St. John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 25).

Thus, it is not surprising when human beings use their freedom to commit evil deeds. We all bear the wound of original sin. When evaluating the freedom afforded to its population by a society, there should be consideration for the moral character of the people. They should be using their freedom to choose what is good, not what is evil. Freedom does not survive by casting off all limits. It endures only when it remains rooted in the truth about God, man, and the moral order. Detached from truth, freedom becomes license. United to truth, freedom becomes the path to authentic human flourishing.

Share

Faith and Reason Series

Why Truth Matters

Faith and Reason: Two Ways of Knowing

The University and the Search for Wisdom

Economic Freedom Requires Truth

Visiting the Church’s Eldest Daughter

His first pastoral visit to France marked the first time a Roman Pontiff had visited France since 1814. The Enlightenment had shaped French intellectual life profoundly, and many modern currents questioned whether objective truth could be known at all. Pope John Paul II would choose the setting of a Catholic university in France to remind academia of its fundamental need to pursue the truth.

The French Revolution and subsequent secularization of society seemed to wrest France from the bosom of the Church. Pope John Paul II’s visit showed the Church’s maternal concern and France’s desire to remain connected. Love for truth characterized Karol Wojtyła, and throughout his life, he sought to share this love with others.

Against this backdrop, he summarized the university’s mission in a single sentence:

Love for truth is the foundation of intellectual freedom without which there cannot be a university worthy of the name (Pope St. John Paul II, Discourse to the Students and Professors of Institut Catholique de Paris).

This affirmation may surprise those who assume that the Church is hostile to intellectual freedom. Catholic teaching is often caricatured as an obstacle to scientific progress or independent thought. Yet John Paul II emerged as one of the twentieth century’s most vigorous defenders of the university and of the freedom necessary for authentic inquiry.

He noted the value of human knowledge but also pointed out a potential weakness. The sciences provide remarkable knowledge about the world, while the humanities illuminate the richness of human experience. Yet neither automatically answers the deepest questions: What is the human person? What is the purpose of life? How should we live? Knowledge alone does not guarantee wisdom.

Subscribe now

Self-knowledge

Yet knowledge of the world is not enough. The deeper question is whether we understand ourselves. A university fulfills its mission not merely by producing experts but by helping men and women discover who they are and what their lives are for. The specific mission of these institutions is to introduce students to intellectual pursuits, answering the thirst for truth and certainty. We seek truths about the world, but we also seek the ultimate truth that gives coherence and meaning to all particular truths. We seek not only particular truths but also the source and unity of truth itself.

From St. Paul of Tarsus to Einstein, the greatest minds have shared a conviction that reality is intelligible and worth exploring. It is not enough to simply gather data. We have to learn the meaning of the data. A Catholic university has a privileged position within the larger panorama of higher education, as faculties of theology and philosophy can foster a deeper learning for their students. A Catholic university offers lay men and women the opportunity to pursue intellectual excellence while remaining rooted in the truths of the faith.

Problem of Splintering Disciplines

The Jesuit theologian Jean Danielou identified a tendency toward intellectual fragmentation within the modern university. The positive sciences have increasingly come to dominate university life, often at the expense of philosophy, theology, and the humanities. When this is the case, there is no true intellectual freedom, since there is no pursuit of a higher truth.

When universities abandon the search for transcendent truth, they become vulnerable to ideological capture. Intellectual life narrows, and education risks becoming an instrument of power rather than a pursuit of wisdom. “To forget God is the perversion of intelligence, if to be intelligent is to know reality.” Intellectual sloth risks cultural death.

Share

Faith Seeks Understanding

As Augustine observed, “faith should think.” Faith is not meant to bypass reason but to engage it. A Catholic university provides a privileged setting where faith and reason can challenge, purify, and enrich one another. This is why the Church never has to fear the advances of science that come as a result of intellectual research and study. There will never be a newly discovered truth that disproves the truths of the Catholic faith. We may have to revisit assumptions we have made, but truth cannot contradict itself.

The conviction that truth is one and that faith has nothing to fear from reason shaped Karol Wojtyła’s entire intellectual life. It also explains his deep interest in fostering dialogue among theologians, philosophers, and scientists. Because truth is one, the university cannot isolate disciplines from one another. Philosophy, theology, and the sciences must remain in conversation. This conviction led John Paul II to invest significant energy in fostering dialogue among scholars from other fields.

Intellectual Freedom

The Catholic faith has never been afraid of true science. The Church’s understanding of the world has often developed alongside advances in human knowledge. While Christians have sometimes embraced incomplete explanations of reality, the Church has remained open to deeper insights into creation. For this reason, the Catholic Church defends intellectual freedom vigorously.

This is one of the problems for fundamentalist interpreters of Scripture and of the Church. Intellectual freedom is not the same as intellectual isolation. Errors often arise when individuals or groups become convinced that they alone possess the whole truth and no longer remain open to correction. Genuine inquiry requires both conviction and humility.

John Paul II rejected the false choice between Catholic identity and intellectual rigor. A Catholic university should form men and women who love the truth enough to follow it wherever it leads. Intellectual rigor and Catholic identity are not competing goods; each strengthens the other when both are ordered toward truth. In the end, the university remains worthy of its name only when it can say, with confidence and humility: “We are not afraid of the truth.”

Leave a comment

Luther

While the tension has many historical causes, the Protestant Reformation marked an important moment in the growing separation between faith and reason. In the spiritual realm, Luther was critical of reason. We could look at this superficially and assume that he is opting for a fideistic understanding of truth. God becomes arbitrary when we take faith on its own, divorced from reason. Is this what Luther wanted?

No, rather he was reacting to some tendencies within Scholastic philosophy and theology that wanted to apply logical methods without discernment to the Bible. Logical syllogisms could seem to take precedence over the gift of faith that comes through Revelation.

Although Luther did not intend a complete separation of faith and reason, some trajectories unleashed by the Reformation contributed to a growing distinction between the domains of faith and rational inquiry. The Enlightenment would deepen this divide. Reason increasingly sought autonomy from faith, while faith was often relegated to the sphere of personal conviction. It was into this intellectual climate that Karol Wojtyla was born.

As a man of deep faith and at the same time a champion of reason, his pontificate would be a stronghold for truth in a world sliding towards relativism.

Tensions Between Faith and Reason

He saw that modern culture often forced people to choose between faith and reason, as if one had to be sacrificed for the other. His response was not to diminish either, but to show how each depends upon the other in the search for truth. This is why he wrote the encyclical Fides et Ratio, exploring the relationship between faith and reason, always with the important mission of achieving the truth. The opening paragraph makes a bold claim, which he develops throughout the encyclical.

Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves (Pope St. John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, introduction).

The quest for truth is an important element of the human experience. There are many paths that help arrive at the truth.

Men and women have at their disposal an array of resources for generating greater knowledge of truth so that their lives may be ever more human (Pope St. John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 3)

Importance of Philosophy

This search for truth corresponds to something we desire naturally, as we learn through philosophy, the love of wisdom.

Born and nurtured when the human being first asked questions about the reason for things and their purpose, philosophy shows in different modes and forms that the desire for truth is part of human nature itself. It is an innate property of human reason to ask why things are as they are, even though the answers which gradually emerge are set within a horizon which reveals how the different human cultures are complementary (Pope St. John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 3).

Philosophy serves as a help for understanding truths of the faith. Some of the same behaviors of the Scholastics that bothered Luther were actually a route for a genuine deepening of the faith. Although his criticism of simply applying syllogisms indiscriminately to the truths of faith may have been warranted, the use of rigorous philosophical and theological methods to go deeper into revealed truth has borne great fruit in the succeeding centuries.

Leave a comment

Splintering of the Truth

Karol Wojtyła was aware of a certain splintering of the truth with the rise of the modern age. With the impressive and noteworthy expansion of human knowledge, there is a tendency to neglect the search for ultimate truth. This is regrettable, and through this encyclical, Pope John Paul II helps to remedy the situation.

Share

Already the First Vatican Council taught that “the truth attained by philosophy and the truth of Revelation are neither identical nor mutually exclusive” (Pope St. John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 9). There is a twofold order regarding the object of knowledge, not their source. All truth comes ultimately from God, but some of this truth can be attained only by him revealing it to us. This is the truth that we know primarily through faith, although it is never contrary to reason.

The truth made known to us by Revelation is neither the product nor the consummation of an argument devised by human reason (Pope St. John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 15).

Avoiding an Over-Rationalization of the Faith

This helps to avoid a rationalization of faith, reducing the faith to a series of principles from which all of its truths can be logically deduced. The relationship between faith and reason is important, and can be threatened by some modern ways of thought, particularly nihilism.

As a philosophy of nothingness, it has a certain attraction for people of our time. Its adherents claim that the search is an end in itself, without any hope or possibility of ever attaining the goal of truth (Pope St. John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 46).

For John Paul II, nihilism emerges when reason loses confidence in its ability to know objective truth. The result is not greater freedom but skepticism about whether truth can be known at all. Having a strong trust in reason, Pope John Paul II argued that faith and reason can achieve a proper harmony. He suggested

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 of faith must be matched with the boldness of reason (Pope John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 48).

The question of faith and reason is not merely academic. Every person seeks meaning, purpose, and truth. Wojtyla believed that we were made for this search. Faith without reason risks becoming superstition; reason without faith risks becoming trapped within its own limits. Together, they are the two wings by which the human spirit rises toward the fullness of truth.

Subscribe now

Eventually, the vocational pull grew too strong, and he decided to join the seminary. This meant abandoning his government-ordered job to disappear from the world in his pursuit of the priesthood. To avoid detection, Archbishop Sapieha required clandestine formation, with seminarians living and studying at the bishop’s palace under conditions of strict secrecy. The Nazis were right to fear the formation of future priests. Truth ultimately outlasts totalitarianism.

Struggle Against Totalitarianism

The close of the war meant simply exchanging one sort of oppression for another for the Poles. The Soviets replaced the Nazis, establishing Poland as a puppet state. Lies ruled once again. Wojtyła’s priesthood and episcopacy would be marked by playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with the new regime. His strong philosophical and theological background ensured that he would not cave to their desires to obfuscate the truth. Rather, it hardened his conviction to seek the truth above all else.

As a philosophy professor at Jagellonian University, he helped young people reflect on truth. As a pastor, he proclaimed the Gospel from the pulpit. Yet, as a priest living under communist rule, he constantly had to sift through propaganda and deception to discern what was really happening.

The Soviets famously manipulated information and tried to rewrite history. After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, history itself “became an area of strict political control. It was supposed to serve the current political interests of those in power and the Soviet Empire” (Anna Zofia Cichocka, “Historical Fallacies in Communist Propaganda”).

Every totalitarian regime depends on a series of lies and deceptions. Karol Wojtyła knew from his own experience that totalitarianism cannot survive the truth. His own life would become a sustained witness to reality against ideology. His thought on the subject would also span the question of the relationship between faith and reason.

Theological Reflection

He wrote extensively on the topic in his 1998 encyclical, Fides et Ratio, “On Faith and Reason.” The first lines of the encyclical are some of the most poignant of all his years of the pontificate.

Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves (Pope St. John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, 1).

He had already reflected on truth regarding moral theology in Veritatis Splendor, “The Splendor of Truth.” However, his opening to Fides et Ratio always strikes me as a veritable homage to truth. Veritatis Splendor focuses on truth in moral action, while in Fides et Ratio, Pope John Paul II focuses on truth in intellectual knowing. God himself has placed in the human heart the desire for truth. Knowledge of self and others, leading ultimately to knowledge of God, is a recurring theme in the thought of Karol Wojtyla.

Philosophical Grounding

Wojtyla’s commitment to truth was not merely political or pastoral. It was grounded in a philosophical vision of the human person and our capacity to know reality. A realist epistemology recognizes the existence of objective truth, at the same time that it admits that this objective truth can be difficult to attain. Truth is objective, but our access to it is personal. Each of us approaches reality through our own experiences, knowledge, and limitations. My experience, my past knowledge, and even my emotions can color the data that I perceive from the outside world.

This does not imply any opposition or contradiction between faith and reason. Both modes of knowing can be modes of arriving at the truth, and they even build on one another.

The human spirit is called to rise to the contemplation of truth. This imagery reminds us that truth is a good to be pursued. There is a fundamental relationship, even between what is true and what is good. The transcendentals remind us that truth and goodness belong together. To pursue the good fully, we must also seek the truth about it.

Wojtyła’s engagement with phenomenology, especially through the work of Max Scheler, deepened his appreciation for the world of human experience and value. Value is inherently related to good. Value arises when a good is recognized and freely affirmed by a person. Increasingly, narrative, not truth, becomes the organizing principle of public discourse.

Looking to Today

Rather than truth-telling, much of our public discourse seems to become marketing. Social media rewards attention, not necessarily accuracy. Political discourse rewards loyalty to tribes more than fidelity to reality. In such an environment, Wojtyła’s insistence on seeking truth together becomes increasingly relevant.

Karol Wojtyła understood the value of truth his entire life. Being subjected to totalitarian regimes sharpened his awareness of the danger of lies. If we are going to be truly disciples of truth, we need to learn to question the narratives that whirl around us and go to the heart of the matter. Not only will this help us have a firmer grasp on reality, but it will also make possible a civilization of love. Totalitarian regimes fear the truth because the truth exposes reality. Free societies need the truth because only truth can sustain genuine freedom. For Wojtyła, truth was not an abstraction to defend but a reality to live. Without it, neither freedom nor love can endure.

Subscribe now