VATICAN CITY, 1 DEC 2008 (VIS) - At midday today, the Holy Father received the rector, professors, students and technical and administrative staff of the University of Parma, Italy.
In his address to them, the Pope referred to "the 'lesson' left to us by St. Peter Damian" (1007-1072), who completed his studies in Parma and later became a cardinal and reformer of his time.
University students, said Benedict XVI, "cannot but be sensitive to St. Peter Damian's spiritual heritage: ... the happy blend of hermit life and ecclesial activity, the harmonious tension between the two fundamental poles of human existence: solitude and communion".
"New generations today", he said, "are exposed to a twofold danger, due mainly to the spread of new information technologies. On the one hand, they run the risk of a growing reduction in their capacity for concentration and mental application on an individual level; on the other, that of isolating themselves individually in an increasingly virtual reality. In this way the social dimension is dispersed in a thousand fragments, while the individual dimension turns in on itself and tends to close off to constructive relations with others".
After recalling that St. Peter Damian "was one of the great reformers of the Church after the year 1000", the Pope pointed out that "all authentic reform must be, first and foremost, spiritual and moral; that is, it must start from people's consciences. ... If we want a human environment to improve in quality and efficiency, we must first of all ensure that each person begins by reforming him or herself, correcting that which can harm the common good or hinder it in any way".
"The goal of the reforming activities of St. Peter Damian and of his contemporaries was to ensure the Church became free, primarily in spiritual terms, but also in historical ones. In the same way, the validity of university reform finds its confirmation in freedom. Freedom to teach, freedom to pursue research, freedom of the academic institution from economic and political power. This does not mean isolating the university from society ... nor pursuit of private interests by profiting from public resources. ... Truly free, according to the Gospel and the tradition of the Church, is the person, community or institution that fully responds to its own nature and goals".
AC/.../PARMA UNIVERSITY VIS 20081201 (390)
In his address to them, the Pope referred to "the 'lesson' left to us by St. Peter Damian" (1007-1072), who completed his studies in Parma and later became a cardinal and reformer of his time.
University students, said Benedict XVI, "cannot but be sensitive to St. Peter Damian's spiritual heritage: ... the happy blend of hermit life and ecclesial activity, the harmonious tension between the two fundamental poles of human existence: solitude and communion".
"New generations today", he said, "are exposed to a twofold danger, due mainly to the spread of new information technologies. On the one hand, they run the risk of a growing reduction in their capacity for concentration and mental application on an individual level; on the other, that of isolating themselves individually in an increasingly virtual reality. In this way the social dimension is dispersed in a thousand fragments, while the individual dimension turns in on itself and tends to close off to constructive relations with others".
After recalling that St. Peter Damian "was one of the great reformers of the Church after the year 1000", the Pope pointed out that "all authentic reform must be, first and foremost, spiritual and moral; that is, it must start from people's consciences. ... If we want a human environment to improve in quality and efficiency, we must first of all ensure that each person begins by reforming him or herself, correcting that which can harm the common good or hinder it in any way".
"The goal of the reforming activities of St. Peter Damian and of his contemporaries was to ensure the Church became free, primarily in spiritual terms, but also in historical ones. In the same way, the validity of university reform finds its confirmation in freedom. Freedom to teach, freedom to pursue research, freedom of the academic institution from economic and political power. This does not mean isolating the university from society ... nor pursuit of private interests by profiting from public resources. ... Truly free, according to the Gospel and the tradition of the Church, is the person, community or institution that fully responds to its own nature and goals".
AC/.../PARMA UNIVERSITY VIS 20081201 (390)
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