Science Can't Explain It All, Says Benedict XVI

My friend Martha sent this... I especially enjoyed Benedict XVI's quote: "Man cannot place in science and technology so radical and unconditional a trust as to believe that scientific and technological progress can explain everything and completely fulfill all his existential and spiritual needs."

Calls for an Openness to Philosophy and Theology VATICAN CITY - Benedict XVI praised the extraordinary possibilities opened to humanity by science, but he cautioned that technology cannot explain everything.

The Pope expressed this today to members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, who are gathered in Rome for their plenary assembly. The theme of the assembly is "Predictability in Science: Accuracy and Limitations."

In his English-language discourse, the Holy Father said, "This increasing 'advance' of science, and especially its capacity to master nature through technology, has at times been linked to a corresponding 'retreat' of philosophy, of religion, and even of the Christian faith.

"Indeed, some have seen in the progress of modern science and technology one of the main causes of secularization and materialism: Why invoke God's control over these phenomena when science has shown itself capable of doing the same thing?"

"If we think, for example," he said, "of how modern science, by predicting natural phenomena, has contributed to the protection of the environment, the progress of developing nations, the fight against epidemics, and an increase in life expectancy, it becomes clear that there is no conflict between God's providence and human enterprise."

"Science, however, while giving generously, gives only what it is meant to give," Benedict XVI cautioned. "Man cannot place in science and technology so radical and unconditional a trust as to believe that scientific and technological progress can explain everything and completely fulfill all his existential and spiritual needs.

"Science cannot replace philosophy and revelation by giving an exhaustive answer to man's most radical questions: questions about the meaning of living and dying, about ultimate values, and about the nature of progress itself."

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