Meeting with Catholic Intellectuals and Students

On Tuesday, 13 August 1985, the Holy Father met with Catholic intellectuals and students in Yaoundé (Cameroon).  In his address, the Pope applauded “the praiseworthy effort that the country is making to equip itself with universities, faculties or schools of a high level," while observing that that there is a strong tie between culture and religion.

Ladies and Gentlemen, intellectual elite of Cameroon,
Dear students,

1. I extend my heartfelt thanks for organizing this meeting. I am grateful for your presence, your sympathy, your trust. Your words of welcome have moved me. I am very happy for this opportunity to meet.

On the one hand, it gives me the opportunity to respond to the initiative of Catholic intellectuals and students, of their various associations, in particular that of the Circle of Christian University Students: I have read with attention and interest the statement of their concerns in the memorandum they addressed to me.

And more generally, I am happy to be able to address the entire intellectual and academic world, to pay homage to the work that it seeks to carry out in Yaoundé and throughout Cameroon.

2. I applaud here first of all the praiseworthy effort that the country is making to equip itself with universities, faculties or schools of a high level. I think that such an effort responds to the thirst of the young people of Cameroon to be initiated into the various sciences, to their desire to better penetrate the secrets of the universe and of human works throughout history, to better understand themselves, to better grasp, in particular, their own identity and their African vocation, while they prepare for professions that are interesting and useful to the country. I am nevertheless certain that the leaders and in particular those responsible for culture are aware of the fact that access to university studies, intellectual progress, contacts and exchanges with other university centers in the world represent an opportunity for the prosperity of Cameroon, for its cultural radiation, for its international relations.

Of course, as in many other countries, professional opportunities do not immediately respond to the multiplication of the number of students; there is always the problem of creating jobs in a way that corresponds to the actual possibilities of each individual, to the various inclinations and vocations, to the real needs of the country that require tasks of all sorts, whether intellectual or manual. However, education in itself remains one of the fundamental goods of human civilization: the effort to eliminate illiteracy is a necessity, the dissemination of education and science is an opportunity, and in this the universities play a primary role. Intellectual research is a promising sign, one can only rejoice in seeing many young people in Cameroon devote themselves to it, find pleasure in it and feel stimulated by it.

I have also noticed that a certain number of priests and religious have taken their place in this university world, and that they bring a quality contribution to it, in highly specialized scientific, sociological and literary fields. How then can we not hope that Catholics also have a place of in-depth theological reflection, where the different aspects and sources of faith are studied with the same scientific rigor, as well as the relationships of this faith with the rest of culture, and its repercussions on social life? Our Protestant friends already do so, and I know that many today feel the need for a Catholic Institute of Higher Studies in Yaoundé.

3. The Bishop of Rome, as you know, is the successor of Peter and the pastor of the universal Church, in union with all the other bishops. Gathering in this capacity the heritage of the Church throughout two thousand years of history, in very different countries and continents I am witness to the immense effort of the Church to promote intellectual life, and, through this, the expansion of cultures. In this regard, I wish to present to the intellectuals and university students of Cameroon my warm encouragement in their noble task.

In front of all the countries represented at UNESCO, to which I was invited in 1980, I insisted a lot on the importance of culture for the purpose of a greater human fulfillment. It is man, I affirmed, who is the subject, the object and the purpose of culture. What matters is the quality of his being, more than the quantity of his possessions and his products. And an essential task of culture is education, and hence the primary role of the family and the school. "The nation exists 'through' culture and 'for' culture, and it is therefore the great educator of men so that they can 'be more' in the community" (John Paul II, Allocutio ad UNESCO habita , 14, 2 June 1980 : Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II , III/1 [1980] 1647). Its history goes beyond the history of the individual, of the family and also of the ethnic group, even though the ethnic group already has its own cultural history and its own language. I was thinking then of the new nations of the international community "struggling to preserve their own identity and their own values ​​against the influences and pressures of models proposed from outside" ( ibid .).

This identity is not a closure to other cultures. By definition, the concept of university entails a need for universality, that is, openness to truth in all fields, to the whole truth. Nothing in the material universe is foreign to it, and nothing even in the spiritual universe is excluded from its intellectual concerns.

However, this need for universality does not deprive the university of being an instrument for the formation and diffusion of the culture peculiar to your country. Man always lives within a culture that is his own. It is thanks to the depth of this culture, assimilated as a fundamental dimension of existence and being, that it becomes possible to access the plurality of cultures (John Paul II, Allocutio ad UNESCO habita , 6, 2 June 1980: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II , III/1 [1980] 1639 ff.). It is in this sense that I express my hope for the development of your research: that it may serve to deepen your cultural heritage, to shape the awareness of national identity, and that at the same time it may allow you to have enriching contacts with other cultures. In this way you will be able to consciously explore the riches of your traditions and be able to appreciate the heritage of other countries, including those which, at a certain stage in history, initiated you to their culture.

4. The field of knowledge that you seek to acquire and deepen encompasses all sciences, those of nature and those of man. Starting from the sciences of nature or the exact sciences, the university opens the way to all technical research and applications; and your country certainly awaits these technicians in all fields, particularly in that of health, agricultural and industrial development, mechanics and electronics, the harmonious organization of society. It is the human progress of the country that you have the honor of preparing.

But even before this utilitarian aspect, what makes scientific work great is the search for truth: truth deserves to be sought and loved for itself, in full freedom, for the joy of knowing. This search puts into action all the powers of human intelligence, capable of giving a name to all other creatures (cf. Gen 2:19-20), of penetrating as much as possible into their secret, and above all of better grasping the mystery of man, of his language, of his being, of his social nature, of his destiny.

In such a search, all the so-called human sciences find their place. I mention here in particular philosophy, which allows us to scrutinize the profound meaning of reality beyond the physical world, as well as all the realities of an ethical and spiritual nature essential to human existence. It is thanks to philosophy that we can establish what man should be, the ethics that should govern his personal and social life . . . As I said to UNESCO, "the primary and fundamental cultural fact is the spiritually mature man, that is to say fully educated, the man capable of educating himself and others . . . The primary and fundamental dimension of culture is sound morality: moral culture" (John Paul II, Allocutio ad UNESCO habita , 12, 2 June 1980: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II , III/1 [1980] 1645).

Yes, the future of a well-understood society passes through the formation of consciences. Men and human groups must be capable of discerning the essential things, what is truth and good for man, and at the same time of judging with a critical spirit the ambiguities of progress, the errors or pseudo-values, the pitfalls of artificial things that some civilizations make shine before our eyes, the temptations of materialisms or ideologies that proclaim themselves effective, but effective for what purpose?

Finally, I am convinced - and the history of civilizations could be proof of this - that there is an organic and basic link between religion and culture (cf. ibid ., n. 9: lc , p. 1642). This is why the religious fact, respected in its own specificity as man's relationship with the transcendent, deserves to be studied in depth, so that the values ​​of religious traditions and the community bonds they generate are given due consideration, so that the civilization to be built may preserve its soul. We find this conviction expressed in the Bible by a psalmist: "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain" ( Ps 127:1).

5. All these reasons lead the Church everywhere to commit herself to promoting, through universities, the various cultures, so that the good of man and society is ensured, in a perspective of integral development, according to God's plan for creation.

You know the zeal shown by the Church in founding schools, especially in this country, from the beginning of evangelization. It was the Church that gave birth to the universities of the Middle Ages, the first universities. Today, while recognizing, in some ways, the autonomy of temporal realities with respect to their own responsibility in the spiritual field, she willingly participates in the progress of the universities, and above all invites her children to take full part in it, in order to serve this progress and guarantee its authenticity. She herself continues to found Catholic universities that permit an easier symbiosis between faith and culture, as I recently explained in Louvain and Louvain-la-Neuve, in Belgium.

6. We have spoken of the promotion of scientific knowledge, and of the search for the truth about man, about God, about philosophy, about morality, about theological reflection. These considerations, at your university level, must not make us lose sight of human needs, of the service of concrete man, in the current situation of Cameroon. You are rightly concerned about the effective conditions of an authentically human development of your fellow countrymen, of all your fellow countrymen. May you always maintain this concern in the fulfillment of the teaching or administrative responsibilities that you have at the university, and of those of an economic, social, pedagogical and political nature for which you as students prepare yourselves. It is really a question of deepening and living a conception of man and his social relations in which “justice” does not remain only a recurring empty and abstract word. Today the whole world speaks of it, without this often preventing certain powers from acting unjustly towards other peoples or categories of people. Philosophical reflection on the dignity of the person, with his or her rights and duties, on interpersonal relationships in the family and in society must lead to taking into account the aspirations and needs of those who suffer from hunger or lack of housing, who are seeking work, who are denied the dignity of women or children, who do not have the freedom necessary to establish a stable home, and also of those who would like to carry out agricultural work or industrial production capable of satisfying the priority needs of the population, and finally of those who rightly care to allow what is good and valid in their cultural heritage to flourish.

7. In any case, this is what Christianity means when it supports the development of culture. It proclaims the freedom and inalienable rights of the person. Furthermore, it sees the source of this dignity in the image of the Creator that each person carries within himself, in the value that God attributes to each person whom he has redeemed through his Son, to free him from all evil. However, personal dignity - which can never be sacrificed as a means to the imperatives of society - is not at all the selfish, self-satisfied or capricious individualism that we find in certain Western societies. It is that of the man who learns to be fully man, together with others and for others (John Paul II, Allocutio ad UNESCO habita , 11, 2 June 1980: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II , III/1 [1980] 1644). At UNESCO I spoke of a fundamental link between the message of Christ and the Church and man in his very essence (cf. ibid. ), since Christianity allows us to appreciate man for himself, to love him for himself, to constantly and always claim his dignity in the face of everything that can oppress him in body, spirit, heart, soul. Christ identifies himself with the real man, with the least of them, with those who are hungry, thirsty, sick, in prison, and strangers (cf. Mt 25:35-36). He began his mission by saying: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives . . . to set at liberty those who are oppressed" ( Lk 4:18). Yes, it can be said that Christ's disciples must always, throughout the world, carry out "a pastoral ministry of healing and compassion", as the Good Samaritan in the Gospel did, simply because the man who finds himself in need on the side of the road is their brother, their "neighbor" (cf. Lk 10:33-37). In the course of history, men belonging to Christian nations have unfortunately not always behaved in this way and we ask forgiveness from our African brothers who have suffered so much, for example from the slave trade. The Gospel, however, remains an unequivocal appeal.

I understand the strong longing of some Africans for authentic liberation and for the just recognition of their dignity, outside of any racism and any desire for political, economic or cultural exploitation. I am particularly sensitive to certain wishes expressed by the Circle of Christian University Students of Cameroon, as well as by the Movement of Christian Intellectuals of Africa. I am happy to note that, in addition to declarations of principle, they themselves are concerned with things that immediately respond to a human need (medical centers, housing for students, participation of women, education of children, fight against desertification, expansion of livestock farming (cf. "First Week of Christian Intellectuals of Africa", Yaoundé, April 1983). I follow with attention the commitment of the Catholic University Youth, in its awareness of the efforts to be made to improve the housing conditions, health, supplies, information, free time of students, at the same time seeking the social causes of the current ills.

8. I would like to add, addressing myself in particular to Christian intellectuals and university students, that it is important to go to the very end in reflecting on the yearning for liberation, on the desire to be at the same time fully Christian and fully African. It is a difficult search, and I hope that you will continue to advance on this path, with objectivity, wisdom and depth, in union with the bishops of your country, of this part of Africa, of the entire African continent, who will not fail to analyze it in their places (councils, symposiums or Council). I have no doubt that your Christian faith and your sincere love for the Church, your desire for communion with the universal Church will guarantee depth to your search, of which I can only indicate a few fundamental principles. First of all, it is very clear that the liberation you seek is the integral liberation of man from everything that enslaves him from without and from within. The whole history of the Bible - which remains a spiritual guide for all of us - is like an awareness of the fact that every obstacle, which often manifested itself with an impediment on the part of foreign peoples, also resided in the hearts of the Israelites themselves who sinned on a personal and social level, who did not take into account moral and spiritual values, who were not faithful to the God of the covenant, who was justice, holiness, love. The Lord incessantly invited them to a more authentic brotherhood among themselves, and to a broader brotherhood with other peoples.

On the other hand, it is true that the Christian faith must be good news for each people. It must therefore correspond to the noblest expectations of their hearts. It must be able to be assimilated into their language, find application in the centuries-old traditions gradually developed by ancestral wisdom in order to guarantee social cohesion, the maintenance of physical and moral health. Evangelization cannot do without borrowing some components from various cultures. A separation between the Gospel and culture would be a tragedy (cf. Paul VI, Evangelii nuntiandi , 20). The positive elements, the spiritual values ​​of African man must be integrated, more integrated. Christ came to fulfill. There is therefore a tireless effort to root the faith culturally so that it does not remain superficial.

However - and this should not be forgotten - the Gospel message does not only come to confirm human things as they are; it also carries out a prophetic and critical mission. Everywhere, in Europe as in Africa, it comes to overturn criteria of judgment and ways of life (cf. ibid ., 19). It is a call to conversion. It comes to regenerate. It sifts through everything that is equivocal, mixed with shortcomings and sin. It must carry out this function both with regard to certain practices that have been brought by foreigners, together with the faith; but also with regard to certain customs or institutions that it has found among you. The Gospel of God always comes, however, to purify and to elevate, so that everything that is good, noble, true, just, is safeguarded, cleansed, made to blossom and bear the best fruits.

9. Those who brought the faith here to you less than a century ago - with a sincerity and generosity that no one can doubt, with the desire to share the best of what they had - necessarily presented it in the language at their disposal. Could it be otherwise? However, to the extent that they initiated you into the essence of the Gospel, of the living tradition of the Church and of her practice - to which you adhere in truth - this already represents an exceptional grace. And it is up to you, African lay people and priests, to ensure that this seed produces specific, authentically African fruits; to allow the leaven to fully make the dough rise here among you. All that is at stake in the second evangelization is in your hands.

These fruits will represent a new wealth both for your country and for the entire Church, which awaits them with great hope, in order to be ever more “catholic”. It can also be observed that they will necessarily have points in common with those generated in the Catholic Church as a whole. What the Lord demands is always the same in matters of love, forgiveness, peace, purity. The Creed is the same. The living tradition of the Church expresses the way in which this Gospel and this Creed have been lived, in union with the Holy Spirit and the Magisterium, in the context, of course, of a concrete history, but in response to authentic questions of the human spirit and heart, pertaining to an experience that is universal. There is here a theological fact through which any further study in the different cultures must necessarily pass. It is important that the Christians of this country and of this continent analyze this fact in depth, in addition to what characterizes their history, in order to trace a certain and fruitful path, in communion with the entire Church. Christians of the past and today are always imperfect, and can make missteps; however, the Church knows how to find balance through its own doctrine and the lives of its saints; Catholic universities are the ideal place for this reflection. The mission of the successor of Peter is to be for all the guarantor of this freedom and this constancy.

10. I would like to end my long speech with a double appeal. To all of you intellectuals, university students and those who have had the pleasure of coming here to this meeting, without perhaps sharing the Catholic faith, I express my warm exhortation to continue your work of research, education and training, in order to serve your brothers and sisters in this country, with particular regard for the weakest. Titles, diplomas, promotions, access to lucrative and important positions - often made possible by your studies - must not be the fundamental motive of your work. Always ask yourselves if you are truly making culture progress, as your country needs: if you are forming men and women capable of serving their fellow countrymen, the good of the nation and the progress of international relations; if you are promoting the qualities of the heart as well as the critical spirit, constancy in work, objectivity, discipline in life, a taste for truth, moral rectitude, a sense of solidarity towards the poor. I pray to God that he will instill in you courage and joy in your magnificent task.

11. For those who share the Catholic faith or who are seeking it, I add this: deepen your faith. Do not accept the idea of ​​an opposition between faith and science: such a conception today can only arise from ignorance of the methods of both. Nor do you accept a separation between your faith and your professional commitment: on the contrary, may your faith inspire your scientific research, the study of social and political problems, your educational responsibilities. Reflect together with your bishops, your parish priests, your movements, in order to develop a pastoral care of the intelligence that overcomes this dichotomy.

Too many of your colleagues allow themselves to be seduced, often in good faith, by associations that seem generous, brilliant, that can offer advantages, but which in reality have a great confusion of ideas, a sectarian pride, sometimes combined with occult practices and a syncretic mysticism, incompatible with the Church. Is this disorientation not due, at least in part, to the fact that their faith, starting from the catechism, has not deepened at the same pace as their studies and their responsibilities, to the fact that there is an imbalance in their formation?

As for dialogue with non-Christian religions - in this crossroads of religions that is Cameroon - it must certainly be increased; it involves mutual esteem, recognition of the values ​​of the other, fraternal cooperation in all that concerns the common good, in fidelity to one's own faith. Finally, dear Christian lay people, do not be afraid to assume your role in the Church. She needs you. This Church is you. Put your talents at her service. Help her to create living communities, on a human scale. Your commitment to your Christian and human community will stimulate your own faith. Furthermore, with respect for consciences required by the Catholic concept of religious freedom, take part in the evangelization of the country, which has an immense field before it, in the evangelization of individuals, groups, cultures. May Christ be present through you in the most varied environments of life!

You have received much: much will be required of you.

May God grant you all His wisdom and strength! May He bless you and all your loved ones!

Thank you for your welcome!
 

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