Pope says science can't help people discover their true identity

By Cindy WoodenCatholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY (CNS) --

While the sciences may help people live better in many ways, there is no way they can ever help people discover who they really are, Pope Benedict XVI said.

"No science can say who man is, where he came from or where he is going," the pope said Jan. 28 in a speech to participants in a conference sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the French Academy of Sciences.

The academies were discussing changing notions of human identity, a subject the pope said is inextricably tied to the question of human dignity "from the embryonic stage to natural death.

"Human identity cannot be defined simply by looking at a person, studying his physical and intellectual abilities or by summarizing his experiences, the pope said. READ MORE>>>

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Sometimes, 40 Days Is Not Enough

Last week, I mentioned that, in the traditional Roman Catholic calendar, the three Sundays before Lent were a special pre-Lenten period--"the front porch of Lent," as our parish priest likes to say.
But the Latin Rite Church, in both the old (pre-1970) and new liturgical calendars has nothing on the Eastern Church, both Catholic and Orthodox. For Eastern Christians, the preparation for Lent begins in the midst of the Christmas season, four Sundays before Western Ash Wednesday. (Eastern Christians don't celebrate Ash Wednesday as the first day of Lent; instead, they begin Lent on Clean Monday, two days before Ash Wednesday.)READ MORE>>>

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