SCIENCE/ Astrophysicist: The Pope teaches us to search for the truth

"One of the clearest messages of the Pope's speech on peace and education is that one cannot have one without the other. We cannot save ourselves. In my opinion, young people are still very sensitive to the relationship with the other, but this must be addressed, educated." This was said by Piero Benvenuti, an astrophysicist at the University of Padua, formerly the chief scientist of the European Hubble project.

Benedict XVI dedicated his Message for the World Day of Peace of 2012 to education, and on Sunday, Jan. 8 too, he returned to the subject in his homily. The depth of the Pope’s message and the space he dedicated to the education of future generations really strikes me, Benvenuti explains. They are issues that cannot be dropped and that even those involved in science must ask themselves about.

Is science, or a certain way of doing science, partly responsible for the “anthropological and cultural crisis” that Benedict XVI spoke about in his Message?
We are seeing, today, the remains of the old positivist position, which on the one hand, makes science the heart of a materialistic view of reality and which, on the other hand, says that science is the only way to get to the truth. The Pope never misses an opportunity to stigmatize this reduction and to insist on the need for a broadening of rationality. In terms of popular feeling, however, this conviction is still very strong. 

With what results?
A very clear separation between the profane, that which is outside the temple, and the sacred. The price you pay, however, is in the alienation, both cognitive and, thus, also educational because the person, as the Pope reminded everyone in his speech by recalling Augustine, lives for his longing for truth. But science too wants to know the truth. It has its own method—the experimental method—with its precise limits and its great merits. However, it cannot be separated from the search for absolute truth.

What are the consequences of this separation for science?
Not being able to communicate what it actually does and its reasons any longer. A general confusion between science and technology dominates and, not by chance, while the first searches for truth, the second is no stranger to the business end of things. In this, science has been largely misrepresented by the media: what does scientific news have to do today? Amaze. The mission of science has become collateral, an accessory, with the paradoxical result that knowledge of reality—even if only one particular path of knowledge—only affects a small group of insiders.

Benedict XVI, who called education “the most fascinating and difficult adventure of life”, also said that “it is to communicate an appreciation for the positive value of life to young people”. How does this help you in your work as a scientist and teacher?