JOHN PAUL II RECEIVES A COMMISSION ON DUNS SCOTUS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 16, 2002 (VIS) - This morning, John Paul II received the members of a commission on John Duns Scotus, the Franciscan theologian and philosopher. They presented the Holy Father with the eighth volume of their work, which includes book two of the "Ordinatio," considered to be Scotus' most important work.

In his address to the commission, the Holy Father affirmed that even today a "pillar of Catholic theology" is Duns Scotus' "splendid doctrine on the primacy of Christ; on the Immaculate Conception; on the primary value of the Revelation and the Magisterium of the Church; on the authority of the Pope, and on the possibility that human reason has, at least in part, of making the great truths of faith accessible and demonstrating that they are not contradictory."

The Pope further recalled that some years have passed since the commission began the task of revising the works (to date 12 volumes have been published) of the Franciscan philosopher. These works needed "to be freed from the many errors of copyists and interpolations of disciples. ... The task was entrusted by the minister general of the Order of Friars Minor and his Definitory to a team of scholars who took the name of the Scotus Commission." John Paul II praised the "commitment" with which the direct and indirect sources used by Scotus were identified. He affirmed: "I trust that the Scotus Commission may - in 2004, year of the 150th anniversary of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary - be able to publish volume 20. This will contain book three of the 'Lectura' (as yet unpublished) in which, for the first time, Duns Scotus defended Marian privilege, earning himself the title of 'Doctor of the Immaculate'."

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