When meeting 130 theologians in the framework of the seminar Creation, nature, environment for a world of peaceorganized by the Pontifical Academy of Theology, Pope Leo XIV asked to continue with the path of thought drawn by San Agustín, Santo Tomás de Aquino and Blessed Antonio Rosmini.
On the morning of September 13, from the Clementine Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father urged theologians to cultivate a “sapiential theology” that is able to respond to the digital challenges of our era. He also called to promote an “incarnate theology”, close to the “pains and joys” of men.
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According to Vatican NewsLeo XIV remarked the urgency of a theological science “based on the personal and transformative encounter with Christ and embodied in the concrete events of current humanity.”
The seminar took place in the Pius IV casina of the Vatican gardens, between September 11 and 12, focusing on issues such as “environmental sustainability” and the “custody of creation”, largely driven by the Pope’s predecessors.
Leo XIV assured this Saturday the theologians that “the effort to improve the environmental and social conditions of our world” requires “everyone’s commitment.”
Given this reality, said the Pope, the Symposium has proposed an “intercultural and interreligious” approach, capable of promoting “an attitude of solidarity and collaboration that exceeds the barriers and the regional, national, cultural and even religious boundaries.” This, the Holy Father continued, “is auspicious for additional and increasingly intense exchanges, for incisive and fruitful initiatives.”
For Leo XIV, theology is “a constitutive dimension of the missionary and evangelizing action of the Church”, which is always aimed at the men of all time.
Taking the expression coined by Pope Francis, he indicated that theology must be a “departure”, capable of joining “the scientific rigor with the passion for history; an embodied theology, impregnated with pain, joys, expectations and hopes of humanity.”
Artificial theology and intelligence
For the Pope, the “digital challenges” are the greatest challenge to which the application of theological work in the immediate future will face, relying on the social doctrine of the Church that is also called to respond to the new times from all the dimensions of the human being: personal, social and political.
In this search, explained Leo XIV, theological science is “directly questioned, because an exclusively ethical approach to the complex world of artificial intelligence is not enough.”
Theology must provide an “anthropological vision that based ethical action”, returning “to the usual question: who is man, what is his infinite dignity, irreducible to any digital android?”, He added.
San Agustín, Santo Tomás and Blessed Rosmini
The Holy Father remarked the importance of the “great parents of antiquity”, who “knew how to combine faith and reason, reflection, prayer and praxis.”
Especially San Agustín, who catalogs as “an always current example” for having understood theology not as “abstract search”, but as a result of the experience of God and the vital relationship with Him. “
The figure and thought of the Bishop of Hipona has had a fundamental role In life and vocation de Lion XIV.
The Pope recalled that in his Confessions, San Agustín proposed an “incarnate theological reflection and capable of responding to the spiritual, doctrinal, pastoral and social demands of his time.”
On the other hand, Santo Tomás then systematized the “existential and emotional” path “Agustinian” with the instruments of Aristotelian reason “, understanding theology as tasty sciencethat is, as “wisdom.”
The work of both was then completed by the Italian priest Antonio Rosmini, who – according to Leo XIV – “considered theology a sublime expression of intellectual charity.”
The Pope ended his intervention against theologians encouraging them to dialogue with all the disciplines to be able to “bring the good yeast of the gospel to different cultures” and achieve “develop and embody this sapiential theology, at the service of the Church and the world.”
Andrés Henríquez
I was born in Caracas in 1996. I am a writer for ACI Press and correspondent of EWTN since 2023. Since then, I cover events of the Catholic Church in Venezuela, Latin America and the world. I have more than 6 years of experience in bilingual media. In addition, in Venezuela I have worked from various fields for freedom and respect for fundamental rights in the country. I am a member of the Regnum Christi Federation since 2014.