The Magisterium of John Paul II as a present-day re-reading of Aeterni Patris
Main Article Content
Abstract
The Holy Father presents the Encyclical of Leo XII as a document of outstanding importance in its time .for the application of the teachings of Vatican Council l. The present Pope reads the Encyclical in the context of Vatican Council II and in terms of the pontifical program of "fully carrying out the Council's dispositions". In this light he finds that the recent Council has taken up the principal ideas of the Magisterium of Leo XIII and recommends the personage and the doctrine and the method of St Thomas Aquinas as being especially apt to illuminate the philosophical crisis of our time. John Paul II highlights two dimensions or notes in the philosophy of being of St Thomas, which are the basis of its perennial value:
a) its openness and universalism with respect to reality as such, which makes it "most suitable" for friendly, and at the same time critical, dialogue: with contemporary trends in order to discern what there is in them that "effectively reflects that reality";
b) its radical "subjection to the truth" which man "does not fix, but only discovers in nature and which has been given to him along with being". Springing from both of these notes is the openness to the total reality and truth which has been revealed to us in Christ and which the ordinary and extraordinary Magisterium of the Church preaches.
The philosophico-theological thought of Aquinas, says Pope John Paul II; illuminates the two most decisive sectors of the Church's task today: Christology and antropology, both of which are profoundly interlinked and which have been dealt with by the Pope in his Encyclical Redemptor HoIninis.
Details
Article Details
RIGHTS TRANSFER
By submitting the article for evaluation and subsequent publication in Scripta Theologica, the AUTHOR exclusively assigns the rights of public communication, reproduction, distribution and sale for commercial exploitation to the University of Navarra through its Publications Service, for the maximum legal term in force -the entire life of the author and seventy years after his death or declaration of death-, in any country, and in any of the current and future edition modalities, both in print and electronic versions.
In the event that the article is not accepted for publication , this transfer of rights lapses with the communication of the refusal to the AUTHOR.
The AUTHOR affirms that the article is unpublished, that it has not been sent simultaneously to another publication medium and that the rights have not been transferred exclusively previously. He is responsible to the University of Navarra through its Publications Service for the authorship and originality of his work, as well as for all pecuniary charges that may arise for the University of Navarra through its Publications Service, in favor of third parties due to actions, claims or conflicts arising from the breach of obligations by the AUTHOR.