In a new Apostolic Letter released on the day he would
have turned 400, Pope Francis praises the “brilliant and inquisitive mind” of
the French thinker Blaise Pascal.
By Joseph Tulloch
A key theme of Pope Francis’ letter is the “brilliant
and inquisitive mind” of Pascal. A child prodigy, he made important
breakthroughs in mathematics and, at age 19, invented an arithmetic calculator,
a forerunner of the modern computer.
“It is moving,” Pope Francis writes, “to realize that in the last days of his life, so great a genius as Blaise Pascal saw nothing more pressing than the need to devote his energies to works of mercy.”
At a press conference convened to present the
Apostolic Letter, Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça – the Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for
Culture and Education – stressed that Pope Francis is a “profound admirer” of
Pascal.
The Cardinal noted that the Pope has released (or is
planning to release) a number of such Apostolic Letters, on figures, such as
Dante Alighieri and Saint Therese of Lisieux, whom he judges “beacons” for the
contemporary world.
Pascal, the Portuguese Cardinal said, is one such
beacon, because he “brings everything together”: science and faith, philosophy
and mathematics, spirituality and a practical mindset.
He also stressed that Pope Francis’ letter, as well as
discussing the well-known aspects of the French writer’s life, makes an
original contribution in that it delves into lesser-known territory, such as
his concern for the poor.
In response to a question about Pascal’s association
with Jansenism, a controversial theological movement in the early modern
Church, the Cardinal said that the French writer was “perfectly Catholic.”
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