POPE WELCOMES TRUSTEES OF CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA

VATICAN CITY, SEP 27, 1999 (VIS) - This morning at the papal residence at Castelgandolfo, John Paul II welcomed the board of trustees of the Catholic University of America, located in Washington, D.C., as well as the university's student choral group.

The Pope highlighted the university's "special contribution to the Church and society in the United States" and he encouraged the board "to continue to shape and implement the vision of a truly Catholic university in your culture, especially at this time."

"At the threshold of the third millennium," he said, "the Church is deeply committed to the new evangelization, and Catholic universities have a specific role and a great task. In my Encyclical Letter 'Fides et Ratio', I wrote that 'faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth'.

"Reason can help faith avoid the dangers of myth or superstition, and faith can open reason to the fullness of truth which of its nature it always seeks. The entire Catholic tradition bears witness to this mutuality, and the Catholic University of America can make no greater contribution to the work of the new evangelization than to stand as a witness to this deep harmony of faith and reason."

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