Church Urged to Tackle "Religious Illiteracy"

ROME, MAY 11, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The Church must respond to the challenge of religious illiteracy, Cardinal Paul Poupard told a symposium that has been reflecting on works such as "The Da Vinci Code."

The president of the pontifical councils for Culture and for Interreligious Dialogue delivered that message when he opened the day of study on the theme "Catholicism and Literature in the 20th Century."

The event, held Tuesday in Rome, centered on the topic "Literature, between Reality and Fantasy: the Anglo-American Lesson."

In his greeting to participants in the meeting, promoted by the Pontifical Council for Culture, Cardinal Poupard said that Anglo-American literary production "has massively captured the market and readers' attention, with works that are set in the vein of the fictional novel."

According to the cardinal, it is a phenomenon that in recent years has been characterized by a "search for the sacred, for mystery," which is manifested in many diverse ways, "from religious syncretism and esotericism to Satanism."

"It takes roots more favorably where there is more religious ignorance, which allows one to say that a new illiteracy exists today," the cardinal added.

He continued: "Whoever knows the history of the Church, knows very well that this is not the first time that there are phenomena of this kind.

"However, the new fact is religious ignorance, rather just plain ignorance, which makes it difficult to discern between storytelling, fiction and attack, even with cleverness, in relation to the history and values represented and lived by the Church."

An opportunity

Cardinal Poupard, 75, affirmed that "the Church has not been afraid to address the challenges directed at it for 2,000 years, because she is convinced of one thing: Every challenge can be an opportunity for growth, maturation, and ever greater responsible and conscious confirmation, if accepted as such and addressed with maturity, intelligence and common sense."

"To transmit faith to the heart of cultures marked by indifference and relativism, the first commitment of the Church is education; her duty is teaching," he emphasized.

Without mentioning specific cases, Cardinal Poupard alluded to "certain literary and media phenomena that are truly disconcerting," which can "arouse curiosity, interest and a desire to know more."

He added that "Christians themselves are asked to reflect more profoundly and intelligently on the mystery of life and to explain their own reasons for believing, to show the well-founded reasonableness of their choice of life and faith, and to share them with men and women open to dialogue."

 

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