Address delivered in April 2024 to the student priests, religious and laity of the École Théologique Saint-Cyprien in the Diocese of Obala (Cameroon), on the theme: “The vocation of a Catholic university in the light of the teaching of Benedict XVI”.
Dear students of the Saint Cyprien Theological School of the Diocese of Obala,
Today I would like to reflect with you on the vocation of a university, and in particular of a Catholic university, in the light of the teaching of Benedict VI.
As Benedict XVI has repeatedly emphasized: “The original vocation of the university is the search for truth, for the whole truth of our being. And with its obedience to the truth and the demands of its knowledge, the university becomes a school of humanity in which vital knowledge is cultivated, high personalities are forged and valuable knowledge and skills are transmitted”[1].
The search for truth is therefore your program, as your motto proclaims: “In the service of Truth and Justice”.
Benedict XVI added: “Without being oriented towards truth, without an attitude of humble and courageous search for truth, every culture disintegrates, falls into relativism and is lost in the ephemeral”.
A sense of Truth is the stone that should be the foundation of any solid culture. Without the search for truth, there is nothing to stand on. Everything becomes liquid.
Without the objectivity of truth, we are left to the mercy of subjective appetites and passions. Without truth, there is no just order, objective and intangible, and no one can be protected from capricious egoism and violence.
Truth is the only solid bulwark against the temptation of omnipotence and arbitrariness. Truth is the foundation of order and justice. Its absence leaves us in chaos. Without truth, opinions clash and no one can decide between them.
Without truth, there can be no unity between men. They are condemned to continually tear each other apart. For truth is the only good they have in common, on which to base an understanding.
Benedict XVI knew this well, he who in his youth saw his country fall prey to Nazi ideology. He had seen with his own eyes a country, heir to a refined civilization, sink into barbarism. Why? Because the love of truth had been replaced by doubt. And after doubt came the reign of violence and the will to power.
This is a crucial issue for the Africa of tomorrow. I would like to invite you not only to seek the truth, but to love it passionately!
The African academic world must take care not to allow itself to be contaminated by the diseases of the mind that the West would like to impose upon it. The West is afraid of the search for truth. For many Westerners, truth has become an unpronounceable word. If you talk about truth, you will be accused of dogmatism and oppression. But in fact, behind this misleading rhetoric lies the violence of the dictatorship of relativism, which itself is often the mask of unavowed financial and material interests.
On December 13, 2012, Benedict XVI reminded a group of African ambassadors: “Nowadays, telling the truth has become suspect, wanting to live in the truth seems outdated, and promoting it seems like a futile effort. And yet, the future of humanity also lies in the relationship of children and young people with the truth: the truth about man, the truth about creation, the truth about institutions, and so on. That is why it is necessary to educate in truth and to the truth”.
So, let’s not be afraid to love and to seek the truth! The West has become skeptical like Pontius Pilate. He repeats over and over in a disillusioned tone: “But what is truth?” (Jn 18:38). And like Pilate, he puts his trust in pragmatic and often unjust political power, because he can no longer rely on the power of truth.
And yet, “what if truth counts for nothing? What kind of justice will then be possible? Should there not be common criteria that truly guarantee justice for all – criteria removed from the arbitrariness of shifting opinions and concentrations of power? Isn’t it true that the great dictatorships were maintained by the force of ideological lies, and that it was truth alone that brought liberation?”[2].
In a world that abhors the truth and revels in lies and hypocrisy, Pope Benedict XVI has consistently presented himself as the humble servant of truth. This is why, as I wrote in La Nef in February 2023, he has often found himself alone in the face of a world hostile to “all that is true, noble, just and pure” (Phil 4:8). A prophet of the truth that is Christ in the face of the empire of lies, a fragile messenger in the face of calculating, self-interested powers. Faced with the giant Goliath of relativist dogmatism and all-powerful consumerism, Benedict XVI had no weapon but his word. This modern-day David dared to challenge his contemporaries by saying:
“The desire for truth belongs to the very nature of man, and the whole of creation is an immense invitation to seek the answers that open human reason to the great response it has been seeking and waiting for since the dawn of time: the truth of Christian revelation, found in Jesus of Nazareth, enables everyone to receive the mystery of life. As the Supreme Truth, while respecting the creature’s autonomy and freedom, it commits us to opening up to the Transcendent. We fully understand the Lord’s words: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (Jn 8:32). But lies and compromise have not tolerated this. Outside the Church, but also within it, fury was unleashed against Benedict XVI. His words were caricatured. They were distorted and ridiculed. The world wanted to silence him because his message was unbearable. They wanted to gag him. Benedict XVI has revived in our time the figure of the Popes of Antiquity, martyrs crushed by the dying Roman Empire. The world, like Rome in the past, trembled before this old man with the heart of a child. The world is too compromised by lies to dare hear the voice of its conscience. Benedict XVI was a martyr for truth, for Christ. Betrayal, dishonesty, sarcasm, nothing was spared him. He lived the mystery of iniquity to the end”[3].
With Pope Benedict XVI, every Christian must firmly and consistently affirm that truth not only exists, but is recognizable. Truth is God. And He has made Himself recognizable in Jesus Christ, for “in Him, God entered the world, and thus set up the criterion of truth at the heart of history”, in the magnificent and definitive words of Benedict XVI[4]. The fundamental newness of God’s coming into the world makes us declare that truth has a name and a face, that of Jesus Christ, who alone can say: “I am the Truth” (Jn 14:6).
It is therefore vital that your university, which is entirely at the service of truth, be openly and proudly “Catholic.”
For “the Christian perspective, as a framework for the intellectual work of the university, is not opposed to scientific knowledge and the achievements of human genius, but on the contrary, faith extends the horizon of our thinking, it is the path to full truth, it guides us towards authentic development”[5]. You should not be embarrassed by being enlightened by the light of Christ. Here again, you, African academics, have a special mission. For here too, the once Christian West now looks back on its Christian roots with shame. Christ has been expelled from universities in many European countries. We refuse to see in him the light that has come to enlighten the nations, to illuminate our failing intellects.
Dear friends, faith and culture are indissolubly linked. Where people seek God with righteousness, culture flourishes, the sciences develop and civilization becomes more refined.
Indeed, the search for God is the heart of culture. Culture can be defined as the combination of the relationships of a man with the world and with others. But the highest relationship he can have is with God. That is why worship is at the heart of culture. Benedict XVI tried to remind the French of this in his speech at the Bernardins. He stressed that European culture was born of the search for God. The monks’ search for God gave rise to the architecture of cathedrals, as well as to the finest works of music and poetry.
European academics have forgotten this. And their wilful amnesia is sterilizing their culture, which now revels in the ugliness of a certain kind of contemporary art, or the questioning of the most solid foundations by wokism.
Your generation of African academics must take up the baton!
By seeking the truth, by seeking the Truth made man in Jesus Christ, you will give birth to a new African culture. You will make art, literature, philosophy and architecture fecund! You will even engender a new approach to economics and science, placing them at the service of man and truth. You will free them from the capitalist obsession with profitability at all costs, even at the cost of human life. By studying under the gaze of God, you will put medicine back at the service of the true human being, freeing it from the sorcerer’s apprentices who want to fight the fertility of African families. You will put medicine at the service of life by freeing it from the culture of death that causes children to die in their mothers’ wombs and old people useless for economic profitability. By studying under the gaze of God, you will bring to light the foundations of all authentic civilization: the difference between men and women, respect for the elderly. You will rid yourselves of the dictatorship of deadly gender theories and the LGBT lobby, which, under the pretext of liberation, are trying to impose on us their delirium.
I must repeat to you the words of Saint John Paul II, spoken on October 22, 1978: “Be not afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power! Help the Pope and all those who wish to serve Christ and, with the power of Christ, serve mankind and the whole of humanity! Be not afraid! Open, open wide the doors to Christ! Open up to his saving power the frontiers of States, economic and political systems, and the vast fields of culture, civilization and development. Be not afraid! Christ knows “what’s inside man”! And he alone knows!
Be not afraid! It is now for me to say to you again: you will only be fully human if you put yourselves fully in the school of Christ, who is the full and complete Truth. I dare say more: you will be fully African, if you are truly Catholic! Don’t believe those who want to lock you into a folklore they imagine to be our culture. The best of African culture is revealed and purified by the truth brought to us by Jesus Christ. He alone brings to maturity the seeds that the Creator laid down in traditional African culture. He alone fulfills the quest for wisdom and truth that our elders initiated in the light of their conscience, where sin and error were sometimes mingled. Let’s have the courage to say it: the more Christian we are, the more African we are. Let’s not get bogged down in a false imperative of inculturation of thought. True inculturation is not a return to ancient folkloric forms. It is the purifying and saving encounter of our present-day consciences with the Truth that is Christ. This encounter will give rise to a genuine African culture.
For culture is always an encounter between the natural desire to see God, who is present in every human being, and God who reveals himself; culture is structured by the link that unites faith and the human spirit.
Benedict XVI emphasized: “When this bond is broken, humanity tends to withdraw and close in on its own creative capacities. It is then necessary for the university to be imbued with an authentic passion for the question of the absolute, for truth itself, and therefore also for the theological knowledge that is an integral part of the training program in your university. By combining the audacity of research with the patience of maturation, the theological horizon can, and must, make the most of all the resources of reason. The question of Truth and the Absolute – the Question of God – is not an abstract quest, divorced from everyday reality but is the crucial question on which the discovery of the meaning of the world and of life radically depends. In the Gospel is grounded a conception of the world and of mankind that never ceases to reveal cultural, humanistic and ethical characteristics. The wisdom of faith, then, illuminates man’s search, interprets it by humanizing it, integrates it into projects for the good, rescuing it from the temptation of scheming thought, which instrumentalizes knowledge and turns scientific discoveries into means of power and the enslavement of man”[6].
I’d like to stress the need for this theological work.
We are sometimes asked whether there is an African theology. There is no more an African theology than there is an African truth. Tell me, frankly: is there an African God for there to be an African theology? Theology is the contemplation of God. God is the same everywhere and for everyone. “The heavens pass away, but you remain…you are the same” (Ps 101:27-28). God is who He is (Exodus). “Jesus Christ, yesterday and today, is the same, he is the same for eternity”. (Heb 13,8). So, there is no African theology, only Catholic theology. On the other hand, there are Africans who are theologians and who place their whole being at the service of the search for truth.
Every theologian should have the humble and noble attitude of Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict XVI, and say: “I have never tried to create my own system, my own theology. What is specific to me, to use your own words, is that I simply want to think in full communion with the faith of the Church, which means above all thinking in total communion with the great thinkers of the Church. The aim is not to create an isolated theology that comes out of me, but a theology that opens up as widely as possible, while remaining on the common path of thought of that faith. That’s why exegesis has always been so important to me. I could not conceive of a purely philosophical theology. The starting point is first and foremost the Word: that we believe in the Word of God, that we try to truly know and understand it, and then to think in deep communion with the great masters of the faith. From then on, my theology is marked by the Bible and the Church Fathers, especially Augustine. Naturally, I try not to stop at the ancient Church, but to fix the great summits of thought and at the same time to integrate contemporary thought into the discussion”[7].
Africans should have no complexes about certain Western theologians who take their cue from fashionable ideologies. Don’t be afraid to be Catholics! Quite simply! Don’t be afraid to hold on to the truth revealed by God in Scripture and Tradition. Don’t be afraid to be faithful to the Fathers of the Church and to the great Catholic tradition that stretches from Origen and Saint Augustine, who lived on our continent, to Saint Thomas Aquinas and the great contemporary theologians such as Joseph Ratzinger, Henri de Lubac and Hans Urs Von Balthasar. Let’s not try to ape European theologians who take as their criteria the fashionable ideologies of the media. All that will pass away like field grass that dries up in the sun.
On the contrary, for you students of theology, hold on to the rule of faith! It’s the only one that won’t disappoint you. It’s the only one that will lead you to the joy of truth. You owe it to the Church and to the world to serve the truth. You owe the Western Church this service of truth and fidelity. At a time when so many theologians are casting doubt on the most fundamental truths of revelation, on the uniqueness of salvation in Jesus Christ or on morality, the courage of faith, the courage of truth, takes refuge in a few hearts. Africans must be among them. Our history has taught us courage in the face of poverty, suffering and humiliation. We will stand firm.
Allow me to repeat the words of St. Paul to Timothy:
“Before God, and before Christ Jesus who will judge the living and the dead, I adjure you, in the name of His Manifestation and Reign: proclaim the Word, intervene in season and out of season, denounce evil, reprove, encourage, always with untiring patience and a concern to instruct. A time will come when people will no longer tolerate the teaching of sound doctrine; but, at their whim, they will seek out a host of teachers to soothe their itch to hear something new. They will refuse to hear the truth, turning instead to mythological tales. But you, in everything, keep in proportion, endure suffering, do your work as a preacher of the Gospel, carry out your ministry to perfection” (2 Tim 4:1-5).
These words resonate with a singular topicality for you, African theology students! They are a sure guide to avoid falling prey to the seductive relativist rhetoric of certain Western university publications, whose arrogance does little to mask the intellectual neo-colonialism regularly denounced by the Holy Father. The doctrinal reaction of African theologians to the recent questioning of Catholic teaching on sexuality is exemplary in this respect. No, despite what some have claimed, Africans have not reacted because of a cultural particularism that would make them allergic to homosexuality. No! The Africans reacted in this way because of their attachment to the universal and eternal truth.
This particular service to the Truth is a gift of grace and a characteristic expression of evangelical charity, again said Benedict XVI. The attestation of faith and the witness of charity are inseparable (cf. 1 Jn 3:23). The deepest core of God’s truth is the love with which He has looked upon mankind and, in Christ, has offered him infinite gifts of grace. In Jesus, we discover that God is love, and that it is only in love that we can know Him: “All who love are children of God, and know God… for God is love” (cf. 1 Jn 4:7-8) says Saint John. And Saint Augustine affirms: “Non intratur in veritatem nisi per caritatem” (Contra Faustum, 32). The summit of the knowledge of God is reached in love; love that knows how to go to the roots, that is not content with occasional philanthropic expressions, but illuminates the meaning of life with the Truth of Christ, that transforms man’s heart and tears him away from the egoisms that engender misery and death. Man needs love, man needs truth, if he is not to lose the fragile treasure of freedom and be subjected to the violence of passions, and apparent or hidden conditioning (cf. John Paul II, Enc. Centesimus annus, n. 46). Christian faith does not make charity a vague, compassionate sentiment, but a force capable of illuminating the paths of life in each of its expressions. Without this vision, without this original and profound theological dimension, charity is content with occasional help and renounces its own prophetic duty to transform the life of the individual and the very structures of society. This is a specific commitment that the mission within the university calls you to make as passionate protagonists, convinced that the power of the Gospel is capable of renewing human relationships and penetrating to the heart of reality”[8].
The Catholic university is the place where this must take place with particular effectiveness, both on the scientific and didactic level.
Dear young university students, you are living proof that only the truth can free us! Hold fast to your vocation, which, in the words of Benedict XVI, is “to show that the Christian faith is a ferment of culture and light for the intelligence, an encouragement to develop all its positive potentialities for the authentic good of man. What reason discovers, faith illuminates and makes manifest. Contemplation of God’s work reveals to knowledge the need for rational, systematic and critical research; the search for God strengthens love for letters and the profane sciences: “Fides ratione adiuvatur et ratio fide perficitur” [faith is supported by reason and reason is perfected by faith], asserts Hugues de Saint-Victor (De sacramentis, I, III, 30: PL 176, 232)”[9].
By seeking the truth, by loving Christ, the Source of all truth, you are working for the good of Africa and of the world. You are preparing the future of the Church and of your countries.
May the light of the Risen Lord open your hearts to the knowledge of Sacred Scripture, confirm you in the whole truth and snatch you from the grip of lies spread by countless ideologies that mislead the world.
Robert Card. Sarah
Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
[1] Benedict XVI, Address to the members of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, May 21, 2011. [2] Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, vol. II, p.220. [3] La Nef, Dossier spécial-February 2023, n°355. [4] Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, vol. II, p. 222. [5] Ibid. [6] Benedict XVI, Address to the members of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, May 21, 2011. [7] Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, Salt of the Earth. Entretiens avec Peter Seewald, Flammarion/Cerf, 2005, pp. 65-66. [8] Benedict XVI, Address to the members of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, May 21, 2011. [9] Benedict XVI, Address to the members of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, May 21, 2011.
