"A merely positivist culture that would remove to the subjective sphere, as non scientific, the question about God would be a capitulation of reason, the renunciation to its loftiest possibilities and therefore a collapse of humanism, the consequences of which could be but serious. What founded the culture of Europe, the search for God and the willingness to listen to Him, remains, even today, the foundation of any true culture". This is the strong warning with which the Pope ended today the much-awaited speech to the world of culture, at Collège de Bernardins. His speech stood out for two references: the "monastic culture" and the writings of Saint Paul, both oriented to "quaerere deum", to "the search for God": the true "philosophical attitude" that consists in "looking beyond the penultimate things and start searching for the ultimate, true ones". And the "quaerere deum" ideally connected the start and the end of the Pope’s speech. "In the confusion of the times in which nothing seemed to resist, they wanted to do the essential thing: strive to find what is always worth it and remains forever, finding Life itself", said Benedict XVI about the "nature of Western monasticism". "Quaerere Deum searching for God and letting oneself be found by Him: today, this is no less necessary than in the past", he added in the end. (continued)
