The Person and the Challenges

Volume 3 (2013) Number 1, p. 139–155

Wojciech Zyzak
Pontifical University of John Paul II in Cracow, Poland

Faith According to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger

Abstract
The subject of this article is faith according to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the
present Pope Benedict XVI. At the beginning the author presents the Cardinal’s
diagnosis of the state of faith in the contemporary world. Joseph Ratzinger shows both
positive and negative features of this state. After having presented the sociological
aspect, the author deals with the essence of the faith according to Ratzinger. The
further analysis concern the sacramental dimension of the Christian faith. Because
the real faith is necessarily the faith of the Church, the article also indicates its
communion dimension. The author additionally discusses a very important topic
concerning the relation of faith to reason and truth. At the end of the article the
reader can find the teaching of Cardinal about the relation between faith and history.
Keywords
Faith, Ratzinger, Bible, history, communion, reason, truth, Church.

1. Introduction

The Holy Father Benedict XVI, when he was still a cardinal, was considered
to be a consequent defender of the orthodox Catholic faith because of his role
as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. His very rich
literary works also bear witness that the awakening and strengthening of faith
in people is a subject very close to his heart. The commentators of his works
notice and emphasize his particular interest in the subject of faith, especially in
the context of the pluralistic outlook on the world1. The most important part

1
A. F. Utz, Glaube und demokratischer Pluralismus im wissenschaftlichen Werk von Joseph
Kardinal Ratzinger, Bonn 1989, p. 12.
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of Ratzinger’s scientific researches seems to be the analysis of the relationship
between faith and reason2. In this context the key criterion for evaluating
his outlook is the question of the truth, because resigning from it would mean
that man would fall victim to cold calculation, taking into consideration only
usefulness3. Such a decisive and clear attitude met several times with strong
criticism4. It has been attempted to reduce his views on the present crisis of
the faith included in the interview Rapporto sulla fede (The Ratzinger Report)
to a simplified, dualistic view of the world, which outside of the Church would
be Satan’s domain5. Similar attacks on the understanding of the faith by man
who nowadays through the will of God has the task to strengthen brothers in
the faith, are a good opportunity to take a closer look at this basic religious act
in the writings of Joseph Ratzinger.

2. Diagnosis of the state of faith

Cardinal Ratzinger was aware of the crisis of the faith in the life of
many Christians who, whilst not accepting the authority of the teaching of
the Church, repeat the slogan that nowadays orthopraxy, i.e. love for one’s
neighbour is more important than the orthodoxy6. In many societies one can
observe the inclination to sacrifice the truth for fashionable and politically
correct views, as it is in the case of not allowing the criticism of libertine
habits, responsible for the spread of AIDS7. The lack of faith leads people to
the spiritual emptiness, which many try to fill with stimulants. According
to Ratzinger, “big journey”, which is undertaken by people using drugs
presents a perverse form of pseudo mystic and a sign of the need of infinity.
Many people want to replace humble and patient effort of asceticism leading

2
Ibid., p. 18.
3
J. Kreiml, Christlicher Glaube in der Moderne, Regensburg 2000, p. 55.
4
H. Häring, Theologie und Ideologie bei Joseph Ratzinger, Düsseldorf 2001, p. 21.
5
E. Dufny, Urbi, but not Orbi... the Cardinal, the Chuch, and the Word, “New Blackfriars”
6/1985, p. 281.
6
J. Ratzinger, Rapporto sulla fede, Vittorio Messori a colloquio con il cardinale Joseph
Ratzinger, Torino 1985, p. 19.
7
J. Ratzinger, Abbruch und Aufbruch. Die Antwort des Glaubens auf die Krise der Werte,
Eichstätter Hochschulreden 61, München 1988, p. 6.
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Faith According to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
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to the experience of God, with some techniques, avoiding the way of moral
and religious development8.
The modern people often look into the future and their motto is: progress
and not tradition; hope and not faith9. In many circles the only moral value is
a future perfect society, the creation of which justifies, for instance, experiments
on embryos or abortion10. Faith in technical progress characterizes the climate
of conviction that at some point a better society will be attained. Who does
not share this faith is like a former atheist, denying that which keeps the world
in progress. The consequence is the need to remove God from the sphere of
history to the private area and thus arbitral11. Although nowadays nobody
believes in unlimited progress like in Enlightenment any more, some faith
in a secular messianism still exists in the conscience of many, expressed, for
instance, in the following sentence of Ernesto Cardenal: ”I believe in history”.
This is, according to Ratzinger, the faith of Hegel, that history itself will lead
to a big synthesis12. In this, the author sees the danger of the restoration of
Marxism, which will replace the lost Christian faith with dynamism of hope
in the social dimension13. It is also the main point of Ratzinger’s criticism
of the Liberation Theology, in which the openness to the world has changed
into a naive faith in the science perceived as a “new gospel” without limits
and problems14. In his opinion the Liberation Theology replaces the faith
with fidelity to history15. Meanwhile in the East European countries, which
experienced Marxism as a force persecuting the Church, there is not such
a problem with the orthodoxy of the faith, moreover, a certain form of theology
of liberation from Marxism has been born16. The Christian faith, from the
very beginning, was opposed to the myth of the city of God as a paradise

8
Ibid., pp. 6–8.
9
J. Ratzinger, Glaube und Zukunft, München 1970, p. 99.
10
J. Ratzinger, Abbruch und Aufbruch. Die Antwort des Glaubens auf die Krise der Werte,
Eichstätter Hochschulreden 61, München 1988, pp. 8–10.
11
J. Ratzinger, Europa – Hoffnungen und Gefahren, Speyer 1990, pp. 14–15.
12
J. Ratzinger, Demokratie – Pluralismus – Christentum, Leutesdorf 1984, p. 9.
13
J. Ratzinger, Europa – Hoffnungen und Gefahren, Speyer 1990, p. 13.
14
J. Ratzinger, Rapporto sulla fede, Vittorio Messori a colloquio con il cardinale Joseph
Ratzinger, Torino 1985, p. 188.
15
Ibid., p. 194.
16
Ibid., p. 200.
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on earth, because it has a bigger hope than the political ones17. So it is not
strange that where the Christian faith weakens, the myth of the city of God
rises again, as man cannot give up the totality of hope18.
The aforementioned opinions do not mean, that the picture of the state of the
faith in the world painted by the current pope is totally negative. For Ratzinger,
the new movements which arose spontaneously from the inner vitality of the
faith itself, have always been a great sign of hope19. In societies themselves
he also perceived the rediscovery of morality, emphasizing freedom, justice
and peace. Besides, Ratzinger mentioned a new return to religion, striving to
concentration, contemplation and contact with sacrum. Nevertheless, in his
opinion, the aforementioned social dynamisms can easily turn into esoterism,
or remain at the stage of mere romanticism. The obstacle for many people is
the necessity of constant inner work based on effort of will and mind, which is
characteristic for a true spirituality. Straying from this path leads to the quick
satisfaction by the manipulation of feelings. Many also cannot combine the
desire of religious experience with the institution of the Church20.
The significant term here seems to be the objective truth. Presently it is
strongly questioned especially in the case of moral rules. The false concept of
the science has reduced the morality and religion to the subjective sphere, it
means created by man. In the evolutionism considering man as a purely natural
object of investigation, the optimal conditions of survival of the human race
became the basic moral value. Negation of the existence of natural moral law
has reduced the world to mere facts. Meanwhile, according to Ratzinger, big
moral achievements of humanity have more reason and truth within them,
than natural sciences, because they concern more what is essential for the
humanity of man21. In the human existence lies obligation, which directs
to objective values. Although modern man, knowing the differences among
moral and religious systems, has reached the conclusion that they are all
human invention, the basic intuition about the moral character of existence is

17
J. Ratzinger, Kirche, Ökumene und Politik, Einsiedeln 1987, p. 140.
18
J. Ratzinger, Zeitfragen und christlicher Glaube. Acht Predigten aus den Münchener Jahren,
Würzburg 1983, p. 76.
19
J. Ratzinger, Rapporto sulla fede, Vittorio Messori a colloquio con il cardinale Joseph
Ratzinger, Torino 1985, p. 41.
20
J. Ratzinger, Abbruch und Aufbruch. Die Antwort des Glaubens auf die Krise der Werte,
Eichstätter Hochschulreden 61, München 1988, pp. 10–12.
21
Ibid., pp. 14–16.
 Wojciech Zyzak
Faith According to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
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common for all mankind, similarly to huge moral imperatives22. The Author
emphatically reminded modern man, that the ethical vision of the Christian
faith is in the proper understanding of the word “synthesis” of the big ethical
intuitions of mankind. The moral principles are not here of human invention,
but discovered in the Revelation and in the moral message of creation23.

2. Searching for the essence of the faith

In everyday language the word “faith” has two meanings. On the one hand
the faith as an opinion means something that precedes knowledge, on the
other hand, in the religious meaning, the faith is a certainty going beyond
hypothesis and even beyond the certainty of science. It is the certainty giving
the sense of life24. For cardinal Ratzinger, faith is the basic act of Christian
existence, allowing the way to the fullness of humanity to be found25. At the
first glance, faith seems to be something provisional and temporary. However
even in the everyday life, it is a basic attitude, because almost everything
has to be accepted with confidence in the knowledge of others. Although it
would be better to have knowledge, the society cannot do without faith and
confidence of the many, who make use of the knowledge of the few26. In
the case of the revealed faith, the content remains beyond the reach of man’s
knowledge. Here is the source of the temptation of agnosticism. Definite
atheism in its dogmatic state seems to know too much. Scientific atheism
has no sense, because the question about God cannot be answered within
the limits of scientific research. In this sense the agnosticism appears more
humble. However, in the opinion of the author, the question about God deals
not only with theory, but concerns the whole of man’s life and that’s why the
agnosticism cannot be realised in practice. B. Pascal, seeing that the answer
cannot be found only theoretically, advises agnostics to take the risk of the
hypothesis of God, because only during the experiment is it possible to find

22
Ibid., pp. 12–13.
23
Ibid., pp. 16–18.
24
J. Ratzinger, Weggemeinschaft des Glaubens, Augsburg 2002, pp. 16–17.
25
J. Ratzinger, Auf Christus Schauen. Einübung in Glaube, Hoffnung, Liebe, Freiburg im
Breisgau 1989, pp. 9–10.
26
Ibid., pp. 11–14.
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out, if it was a good choice. So the agnosticism as a theory can be clear and
tempting, but practically, consequently realised it leads to atheism. Because
the question of God does not leave a man in neutrality27.
In the meantime, faith which comes from hearing is the result of dialog and,
different to philosophy, which comes from consideration, it means accepting
something that was not thought up28. Faith is not a philosophy but discovery
of wisdom, perception and understanding the whole of reality. We believe, not
in the moment when an idea takes hold of us, but when we discover that we
depend on something which finally is beyond our control29. That is why, it is
not possible to make somebody believe through talking them into the faith,
but it is possible to accept the word of faith as a way and experiment of life,
because faith is not only an intellectual acceptance of a truth, but a process
encompassing the whole life30.
Cardinal Ratzinger, when analysing the essence of faith, draws on the
classical text of Saint Thomas Aquinasfrom De veritate q. 14, a. 1. Thomas in the
footsteps of Saint Augustine of Hippo defined faith as “thinking with assent”.
This phrase is a common feature of faith and knowledge. However, while in
knowledge certainty determines thinking, in the act of faith, thinking and assent
are equal (ex aequo). In faith assent is not given as consequence of evident
clarity, but is caused by an act of will. Will, in some way, precedes knowledge
and makes us agree with the contents of faith thanks to God’s inspiration. Due
to this initiative of God, in faith we know that what is not clear for the mind, is
true. The result of this, according to Ratzinger, is voluntariness of the act of faith,
because faith is possible only as a free act. So faith is an act in which all faculties
of the soul cooperate31. Here it is evident, why faith comes by hearing and not by
understanding. The thinking in the act of faith does not come to an end and peace.
The faith is a pilgrimage of thinking, where the mind remains constantly in the
act of searching. In the act of faith the mind is “led to the end from the outside,
it means in a certain way taken captive”. That is why, in spite of strong assent

27
Ibid., pp. 14–18.
J. Ratzinger, Einführung in das Christentum. Vorlesungen über das Apostolische
28

Glaubensbekenntnis, München 1968, pp. 61–62.

29
J. Ratzinger, Diener eurer Freude. Meditationen über die priesterliche Spiritualität,
Freiburg im Breisgau 1988, p. 45.
30
J. Ratzinger, Bilder der Hoffnung. Wanderungen im Kirchenjahr, Freiburg im Breisgau 1997,
p. 49.
31
J. Ratzinger, Weggemeinschaft des Glaubens, Augsburg 2002, pp. 18–21.
 Wojciech Zyzak
Faith According to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
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of the faith, the contrary movement (motus de contrario) still remains. Because
the faith is anticipation of invisible reality, thinking must try to catch up with the
assent of the will and overcome motus de contrario. Here the author sees the role
of theology as science. Without the anticipation of the faith, thinking would be
searching in vain and could not say anything essential about the most important
human issues. But anticipating knowledge of the faith does not destroy thinking,
which being ex aequo, becomes suitably provoked to creative unrest. Although
this unrest of the mind, which is not able to grasp God’s word, can turn away
from the faith, it is above all the basis of a fruitful journey of thinking to God32.
The task of theology indicated in the phrase “credo ut intelligam” consists of
accepting the word as a guideline (Vorgabe) and recognising comprehensible
sense in it. Such an understanding of theology, according to the author, cannot
be lacking on the path of the faith of every believer33.
The faith is an act encompassing the whole man. According to the cardinal,
it is not enough to believe only theoretically that God exists, but it is necessary
to see Him as the most real entity in our life. God should penetrate all layers
of human life and fill them completely. The heart must know Him and allow
itself to be touched by Him. In difficult situations in our life, God requires
trust, it means faith that He is good. Here we can see that the faith cannot do
without other theological virtues, that is hope and charity34. Without faith,
hope and charity the Church cannot grow35. The three theological virtues
belong together, because one can understand charity only when it is seen from
the side of faith and hope36.

3. The sacramental dimension of faith

From the previous paragraph it turns out that faith comes from hearing and
is not a product of man’s own decisions and reflections. Faith is an encounter
with something that cannot be invented or caused by man’s own effort, because

32
Ibid., pp. 22–25.
33
Ibid., p. 28.
34
J. Ratzinger, Auf Christus Schauen. Einübung in Glaube, Hoffnung, Liebe, Freiburg im
Breisgau 1989, pp. 109–111.
35
J. Ratzinger, Kirche, Ökumene und Politik, Einsiedeln 1987, p. 15.
36
J. Ratzinger, Auf Christus Schauen. Einübung in Glaube, Hoffnung, Liebe, Freiburg im
Breisgau 1989, pp. 70–71.
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it is a revelation. Cardinal Ratzinger called the structure of this encounter
a sacrament37. We have already mentioned that faith is an act reaching to the
depths of a person, comparable with the final “yes”, a definitive acceptance
of great love. That’s why faith is a grace, just like love is a gift. Similarly to
love, faith is a “yes” to God in Jesus Christ, who by his love begins a relation
with a believer. Because Jesus allows man to meet him in words and acts of
community, sacrament belongs to faith, it means the unification of man’s life
with the whole history of the relation of God to man38. Faith being something
totally personal, leads to the community39. That’s why cardinal emphasises
that the Holy Bible is not a kind of “meteorite fallen from heaven”. It contains
the thought of God but has been passed on by human history. We can find
in it thoughts and life of God’s People, which is an essential condition of
the uprising and development of the biblical Word40. Therefore the original
place to experience the Christian confession of faith is the sacramental life
of Church. Canon was formed according to this criterion and that’s why the
Symbol of faith (the creed) is the first instance interpreting Bible. Rules of faith
subordinated to the Symbol are the concrete life of believing community. This
results that the Magisterium of the Church is not a second authority alongside
the Holy Bible, but belongs to it internally. The task of the Magisterium is to
secure the Holy Bible from manipulation and saving its unambiguity41.
It is worth mentioning here the understanding of sacraments according to
cardinal Ratzinger. This understanding takes into consideration the ability to
read the Holy Bible not only “backwards” but also “forwards”, in its unity of
prediction and fulfillment. This is because the understanding of sacraments
assumes a historical continuity of God’s acting with its concrete place in
the shape of the living community of the Church, which is “sacrament in
sacraments”. It means that the biblical word can only carry and give God’s
presence if it is not only a word but has a living subject42. Sacraments are
actions of the Church in which the Church is engaged as the Church, it means

37
J. Ratzinger, Kirche, Ökumene und Politik, Einsiedeln 1987, p. 19.
J. Ratzinger, Mitarbeiter der Wahrheit. Gedanken für jeden Tag, Würzburg 1990, pp. 215–216.
38

J. Ratzinger, Zeitfragen und christlicher Glaube. Acht Predigten aus den Münchener Jahren,
39

Würzburg 1983, pp. 14–15.

40
J. Ratzinger, Weggemeinschaft des Glaubens, Augsburg 2002, pp. 29–30.
41
Ibid., p. 31.
42
J. Ratzinger, „Zum Begriff des Sakramentes“, Eichstätter Hochschulreden 15, München
1979, p. 17.
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Faith According to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
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not only as an organisation, but on the basis of something not created by the
Church itself, giving more than it can give from itself. That’s why in sacrament
the whole continuum of history, with past, present and future can be met.
Sacrament rooted on human history should touch a man in his present time in
such a way to open the future beyond death for him. Therefore sacraments are
both something new and ancient as Christian and human respectively. Newness
of the Christian element and the unity of the human one do not contradict each
other. In Jesus Christ the whole creation is accepted and purified. In Him in the
mystery of God everything comes to its unity43.
In this context it is very important what the author says about each
sacrament, especially baptism and Eucharist. Baptism means for him, entering
into common form and common confession of faith of the Church in such
a way that this faith becomes a personal form of man’s life. The content
of the faith is spoken in the confession of the Church, which is a common
form of faith, leading people through all places and times to the unity. The
faith of the Church can be expressed because the human language is able to
articulate known and accepted truth44. In a similar way, for the author the
aim of preparing Eucharistic catecheses was the desire to indicate the proper
understanding of the faith in these mysteries, conforming to the faith of Church
of all times45. In connection with the scene of people leaving Jesus because
they did not accept his Eucharistic teaching (J 6, 53. 55) cardinal Ratzinger
writes that faith in incarnate God reaches fulfillment only when it becomes
incarnate itself as a sacramental event in which incarnate Lord encompasses
the corporal existence of man46. This is a source of special interest in liturgy for
the cardinal. He reminds Christians that according to the Council, the liturgy
is not on the edge but in the heart of the Christian faith47. It is in the relation to
the liturgy that in his opinion the fate of faith and Church is decided48. Where
the liturgy does not build a community of faith encompassing the whole of the

43
Ibid., p. 18.
44
J. Ratzinger, Zeitfragen und christlicher Glaube. Acht Predigten aus den Münchener Jahren,
Würzburg 1983, pp. 16–17.
45
J. Ratzinger, Eucharistie – Mitte der Kirche, München 1978, pp. 7–8.
46
Ibid., pp. 51–52.
47
J. Ratzinger, Rapporto sulla fede, Vittorio Messori a colloquio con il cardinale Joseph
Ratzinger, Torino 1985, pp. 123–124.
48
J. Ratzinger, Cantate al Signore un canto nuovo. Saggi di cristologia e liturgia, Milano
1996, p. 9.
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Church with its history, where in it the mystery of living Christ is not visible,
there the community celebrates only itself49.

4. Communion dimension of faith

God’s word comes to us through people who have heard and touched Him
and know Him from experience. In the faith the element of trust becomes the
basis of participation in someone’s knowledge. In this way faith creates a web
of mutual dependences. The Cardinal the bond with God is also and even
firstly a bond among people, based on their communion. But here the openness
to God, which allows eternity to come through another man is necessary. In
the case of revealed faith many live from this which few have experienced.
The few are those who have been given sight. Jesus is the one who sees, whose
words come from immediateness with the Father. The Christian faith is by its
essence participation in Jesus’ sight, given by His word50.
The act of faith is a deeply personal act and that’s why it’s an act of
communion, because communion can happen only in the depth of people. The
faith is deliverance from the isolation of one’s own “ego” towards union with
Jesus and people in the Church. That’s why faith is necessarily ecclesial faith.
True Catholicity means bringing life and faith of the whole Church of all times
and places to the present time of a given community51. So the structure “we”
belongs to the essence of Christianity and being a believer means deliverance
from isolation towards “we” – God’s children52. Cardinal Ratzinger sees the
Church in this communion perspective as God’s institution. If one sees the
Church only as a man-made construction, then the content of the faith seems to
be arbitral53. But the aim of the Church is to maintain the truth of the Gospel as
a message coming from outside and in its constancy being hope for the people54.

49
J. Ratzinger, Aus meinem Leben. Erinnerungen (1927–1977), Stuttgart 1998, p. 174.
50
J. Ratzinger, Auf Christus Schauen. Einübung in Glaube, Hoffnung, Liebe, Freiburg im
Breisgau 1989, pp. 31–34.
51
Ibid., pp. 39–41.
52
J. Ratzinger, Kirche, Ökumene und Politik, Einsiedeln 1987, p. 36.
53
J. Ratzinger, Rapporto sulla fede, Vittorio Messori a colloquio con il cardinale Joseph
Ratzinger, Torino 1985, p. 46.
54
J. Ratzinger, Demokratisierung der Kirche?, in: Demokratie in der Kirche. Möglichkeiten
und Grenzen, Topos plus Taschenbücher, v. 348, Limburg-Kevelaer 2000, pp. 18–19.
 Wojciech Zyzak
Faith According to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
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Such a view of the Church has an influence on its relation to the Bible. The
Bible itself cannot be the only basis of the Church and the community of the faith.
It is Holy Bible because it exists in the living subject of the Church55. That’s
why it’s necessary to read the Holy Bible with the faith of the Church. The mere
historical explanation does not lead beyond hypotheses and only the faith gives
us a certain contemporaneity with Jesus. The faith gives more than hypothesis,
because it gives the basis of trust in revealed word56. That’s why the reading of
the Holy Bible must happen in the living faith, in the communion of the Holy
Spirit and with taking into consideration the measure given by the Church. In
this sense the obedience to the Bible is obedience to the Church. The living word
in the living Church is today the actual power of God in the world. The right
interpretation of the Bible means reading it where it has made and is making
history, where it is not only a witness of the past but a living force of the present57.
In this context Ratzinger teaches about the role of the Holy See in the keeping
of the unity of the faith in the Church. In his opinion the guidance in the faith
must be a guidance in love. The faith without love would not be the faith of Jesus
Christ. Only the Eucharistic faith can sustain the Church forever. Therefore the
Church is not governed by the majority of votes, but by faith, which matures by
encounter with Eucharistic Christ. The Church will be all the more united, the
more it lives according to the measure of Eucharist and the more it is in Eucha-
rist faithful to the measure of the faith. On the faith is based the law, order and
authority of the Church. In the Church the unity of the faith protects all members
and everybody has to follow it. Such an attitude gives more freedom than a ma-
jority government, which forces the minority to subordinate to the majority58.

5. Faith in relation to reason and truth

For cardinal Ratzinger faith means that man does not limit the reality to
the visible and tangible things, but looks for another way to reach the reality

55
J. Ratzinger, Der Geist der Liturgie. Eine Einführung, Freiburg i. Br. 2000, p. 144.
56
J. Ratzinger, Evangelisierung, Katechese und Katechismus, Paderborn 1994, p. 25.
57
J. Ratzinger, Cantate al Signore un canto nuovo. Saggi di cristologia e liturgia, Milano
1996, pp. 65–66.
58
J. Ratzinger, Bilder der Hoffnung. Wanderungen im Kirchenjahr, Freiburg im Breisgau 1997,
pp. 40–43.
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in which he finds the most important perspective. In the faith he discovers that
what is invisible is truly real. The faith is a conversion in which man finds out
that he lives in illusion when he pays attention only to the tangible59. Faith
means acceptance of the truth, that the invisible is more real than the visible.
However it is not a blind trust in the irrational, but committing oneself to
Logos, “ratio”, which means to sense and truth. According to the author faith
and reason belong to each other60.
Cardinal Ratzinger sees this bond of faith and reason as essential for
religion. In his opinion, the ancient pagan religion failed because of the gap
between god of faith and god of philosophy, it means god of piety and god of
reason. Christianity would have met the same fate if it had separated from
the reason. The end of the myth and the victory of the Gospel is the result of
the new approach to the relation between religion and philosophy, faith and
reason. Christianity, choosing the God of philosophers and identifying Him
with God of dialog with men, has shown Him as “agape”, the creative power
of love61. So the synthesis of the biblical faith with the spirit of Hellenism
made by Fathers of the Church was, according to the author, necessary. It
means that the philosophical truth constitutively belongs to the Christian faith
and analogia entis is a necessary dimension of Christian reality62. That’s why
the identification of God of the faith as God of philosophers made by Thomas
Aquinas was justifiable. However it does not mean that faith and philosophy
are identical or that philosophy can be turned into faith63.
For cardinal Ratzinger, the relationship between faith and reason and
consequently theology and philosophy is essential. Already in his early work
about theology of Bonaventure he notices the dependence of philosophy
on faith and theology64. The author has developed this question in the
commentary to the encyclical letter of John Paul II Fides et ratio. In his opinion
the universality of Christianity is based on the claim of being the truth. There
cannot be any contrariety between Christian faith and human reason because

59
J. Ratzinger, Einführung in das Christentum. Vorlesungen über das Apostolische Glaubens-
bekenntnis, München 1968, pp. 27–28.
60
Ibid., pp. 40–53.
61
Ibid., pp. 105–109.
62
J. Ratzinger, Der Gott des Glaubens und der Gott der Philosophen, München 1960, pp. 24–25.
63
Ibid., pp. 27–29.
64
J. Ratzinger, Die Geschichtstheologie des Heiligen Bonaventura, München 1959, pp. 159n.
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both are united by truth. Ratzinger has criticized the separation of faith and
reason, which leads to fideism. If the only type of rationality is one of natural
science, faith becomes deprived of rationality and pushed into subjectivism65.
The metaphysical capacity of the reason is a necessary factor of the faith,
because a conception of faith developed beyond or against the reason would
be insufficient, not only from the point of view of reason, but also from the
point of view of faith. That’s why the author sees the need of philosophy open
to the fundamental questions concerning being. Therefore the Christian faith
opposes the theories which negate the human striving to know the metaphysical
truth66. The faith as acceptance of God’s truth revealed in Jesus Christ is no
threat for reason and freedom. The faith defends the reason because it needs
a seeker of truth. It is not a questioning attitude that is an obstacle to the faith,
but an attitude which considers the truth as something unattainable67.
According to the cardinal, nothing in the truly scientific vision of the
modern world contradicts faith. Faith in the act of creation is today, like never
before, actual and should give a view on the greatness of God the Creator.
From the true Christology comes the knowing of God and man, as well as
the answer to the question of ultimate happiness. Only in the context of faith
in the Trinity and incarnate Son the big moral questions of our times find
a right answer. But to make it penetrate into the mentality of modern man, it
is necessary to create the possibility to experience the faith68.

6. Faith and history

According to Cardinal Ratzinger, the basic right of a Christian is the right to

the whole faith, which is the source of duties for everybody, especially for those
holding office, to maintain the entirety of intact faith. In relation to the world,
the Church has to defend not only the right to freedom of choice of faith, but
also to freedom to believe and live according to it69. Faith deals with truth and

65
J. Ratzinger, L’intervento del Cardinale Joseph Ratzinger, in: Per una lettura dell’Enciclica
Fides et ratio, Città del Vaticano 1999, pp. 9–11.
66
Ibid., pp. 11–12.
67
Ibid., pp. 14–15.
68
J. Ratzinger, Cantate al Signore un canto nuovo. Saggi di cristologia e liturgia, Milano
1996, pp. 44–47.
69
J. Ratzinger, Kirche, Ökumene und Politik, Einsiedeln 1987, pp. 180–181.
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the eternal mind of God is the foundation of everything. That is why faith is by
itself quaerens intellectum. Here is the source of theology which differentiates
Christian faith from other religions. Such a theology is different from philosophy
of religion in so far as in its basis lies the word of God which although is logic,
goes beyond the possibilities of natural mind and precedes it70. The truth of
the faith is not given to an isolated individual but to the community of the
Church. Ratzinger emphasises the meaning of Magisterium as the teaching
authority of the Church. In the context of historicity of the faith it is worth
mentioning the cardinal’s opinion that there are some decisions of Magisterium
which cannot be the last word in the matter, but are a sign of pastoral wisdom
in the form of a single decision. Their core remains right but details, depending
on circumstances, can require correction. As an example he gives the anti-
modernist decisions from the beginning of 20th century. According to the author
they remain right as a warning against hasty and superficial adapting to the
opinion of the world. These anti-modernist decisions saved the Church from
drowning in the liberal world, but in details concerning the content, they ceased
to be valid, after they had fulfilled their pastoral role in a given situation71.
The historicity of formulation of faith is based on the fact that the
human word always remains behind the reality it expresses, all the more
when God’s reality is expressed in this word. Included in every dogmatic
formula is a double insufficiency, that is distance to expressed reality and
participation in the human world determined by history. This diminishes the
total definiteness of the formula without diminishing the total definiteness
of the reality therein. The basis of the unchangeability of dogma is seen by
Ratzinger in the authoritative explanation of the Bible, which emphasizes the
main directions. The dogma extracts lasting concepts from the multitude of
biblical motifs and the author sees in this a particular basis of unchangeability,
which, in history, has been connected, not only with the content of dogma,
but also with the formula. The dogma, as an explanation, must always be read
backwards, looking at what has been explained, that is the Bible. The dogma
can be understood only in the unity of the history of dogma72.

70
J. Ratzinger, Zur „Instruktion über die kirchliche Berufung des Theologen“, „Internationale
katholische Zeitschrift Communio“ 1/1990, pp. 561–563.
71
Ibid., pp. 563–564.
72
J. Ratzinger, Das Problem der Dogmengeschichte in der Sicht der katholischen Theologie,
Köln 1966, pp. 25–28.
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For Ratzinger, in the history of faith it is important to maintain the original
sense. For the believer, it is essential that the identity of authentic, original
teaching is kept through the centuries. But in the essential historicity of man,
this identity can only be kept if it is not a mere identity of a formula passed
on externally. The teaching, in order that it maintains its identity, has to be
continuously assimilated together with all historical changes of man. Here,
decisive is that the believer through the word is led in the relationship with the
reality of God, that is, he meets God and not the sum of gained knowledge. The
revelation cannot be identified with a certain amount of sentences, because words
have an intermediary character in the encounter from which they come and to
which they should lead. That’s why the revelation requires constant assimilation
and explanation. It is concerned with the truth of identity of original teaching73.
However, the faith, despite having different periods and degrees, is a lasting
basis of human existence. Therefore the faith has definitive statements, in which
its internal finality is expressed. The symbol of the faith and the dogmas can be
submitted to the process of new understanding in the course of history, but in
this maturing of understanding the identity of what has been understood cannot
be eliminated. This is the basis of definitive finality of the certainty of faith74.

***

Faith in the publications of Joseph Ratzinger belongs to central themes.

He constantly emphasises that only the Christian faith leads to the final sense
of reality and to the adequate answers to human basic questions. As we have
seen, for the author the faith is an existential act, embracing the whole man. For
him important is also its communion and ecclesial nature and its sacramental
dimension75. As Pope Benedict XVI, he emphasized the importance of the
dimension of believing with the Church, trusting that it is led by the Holy
Spirit76. Being an expert of the Second Vatican Council, Ratzinger, in the

73
Ibid., pp. 38–39.
J. Ratzinger, Einführung in das Christentum. Vorlesungen über das Apostolische
74

Glaubensbekenntnis, München 1968, p. 217.

75
A. Bellandi, Fede cristiana come „stare e comprendere”. La giustificazione dei fondamenti
della fede in Joseph Ratzinger, Roma 1996, pp. 361–362.
76
Benedikt XVI, Begegnung mit den Priestern und Diakonen der Diözese Rom in der
Lateranbasilika, 13. 05. 2005, in: Verlautbarungen des Apostolischen Stuhls 168, Der Anfang.
Papst Benedikt XVI. Joseph Ratzinger, Bonn 2005, p. 69.
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concept of sources of God’s revelation, appreciated not only the Holy Bible
but also the tradition of the Church77. He always ensured the will to remain
faithful to the Council, it means, to “today” of the Church , without nostalgia
for the past “yesterday” and impatience for “tomorrow” which is not ours78.
A constant place in the reflection of the author occupies not only the nature
of the act of faith with its rational element, but above all the place of the faith
in the life of the modern man and the whole culture. In an emphatic and
simple manner, the cardinal summarised his opinion in the homily during the
Mass Pro eligendo Romano Pontifice 18 April 2005, saying that a mature faith
doesn’t ride the waves of fashion and the latest news, but is deeply rooted in
the friendship with Christ79.

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