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Vatican City, Vatican, 7th
October 2004 (CNA) -
On receiving this
morning members of the International Theological
Commission which is celebrating its annual plenary in
the Vatican, Pope John Paul II affirmed the capacity of
man to know the truth and to know the objective norms of
moral behavior.
Referring to the question
of the natural moral law, the Pope said that "It has
always been the Church's belief that God gave man, with
the light of reason, the capacity to be able to know the
fundamental truths on life and its destiny and
specifically the norms of moral behavior.”
“Making our peers aware of
this possibility,” he added, “is very important for
dialogue with men of good will and for coexistence in
all levels on a common ethical foundation."
"Christian revelation does
not render this search useless, on the contrary, it
pushes us to search, lighting up the path with the light
of Christ in whom everything is consistent," said the
Holy Father.
The Pope also referred to
one of the commission's themes of study, the fate of
children who die without receiving baptism saying "it is
not just simply an isolated theological problem" since
there "are many other fundamental themes that are
closely related to this one: the universal saving will
of God, the unique and universal mediation of Jesus
Christ, the role of the Church, the universal sacrament
of salvation, the theology of the sacraments, the
meaning of the doctrine on original sin."
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