Cardinal Shönborn: European crisis result of inability to recognize the truth

Salzburg, Austria, Jan 16, 2008 / 15:42 pm

The archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn said this week that the “intellectual crisis of Europe” is the result of an “incapability of recognizing the truth.”

According to the Archdiocese of Vienna’s website, during a January 12 speech on the missionary life of the Church at the Pastoral Assembly of Austria, the cardinal underscored the need to recognize and proclaim the truth, since it is there that love is found.  Likewise, he noted that missionary opportunities can be found in daily life, as the Holy Father mentioned during his visit to Austria.

At that time, Cardinal Schönborn recalled, the Holy Father stated that “where there is no truth, the human being cannot distinguish between good and evil.”  He also explained that “truth properly understood is humble and is directed to the interior and does not seek external power.”

Cardinal Schönborn later noted that Benedict XVI stressed on his trip to Austria that possessing the truth revealed by God should not lead to pride or to scorn for other religions, but rather should “move us in response to what has been freely given us, so that we too give it to others.”

Christians should confidently and boldly approach others to spread to the faith, since otherwise “many opportunities for mission work are lost.”