Catholics From Italy

"We can always do something: a maxim that should be carved on the bench of every magistrate and every police officer."

"Indians have excellent eyes and ears; and our band, if weak in numbers, was certainly strong in lungs; for such as had wind instruments spared neither contortions of the face, nor exertions of their organs of respiration to give volume to the music."

"There is a certain Kemalist secularism which relegates religion to the private sphere, is not very desirable for us. On this point, too, we must break away from certain trivializations. In Europe, the total secularism of the state is considered a value, but there are controversial situations and questionable aspects. A government that takes into account the religious sentiments of the people is in any case desirable for us. We cannot accept a religion simply relegated to consciences."

"It is not a matter of religious beliefs. It is a natural reality that does not come from ideological or cultural tendencies, but from natural principals that proceed from the very nature of the human person. If we cut ourselves off from the common denominator of human nature...What universal reference would their be in humanity to guarantee our human rights?"

"Of course, Catholics have a terrible habit: thinking about the power of modernity and ignoring how this modernity, insofar as it seeks to deny religious transcendence, is currently experiencing its greatest crisis, as recognized even by certain secular writers."

"(About the book of Simone Weil entitled The Need for Roots) Of course, one cannot expect the formal perfection of other writings, but that is simply because “it is a book,” whereas the natural expression of tragic consciousness, such as Weil's, is the aphoristic form."

"Gilson criticizes attempts to trace Dante's position back to Thomism or Averroism. For St. Thomas, every hierarchy of dignity is at the same time a hierarchy of jurisdiction, while for Dante—except for God—a hierarchy of dignity is never the foundation of a hierarchy of jurisdiction, and this corresponds to Dante's specific philosophical problem, which is not so much to define the essence of philosophy as to determine functions and jurisdictions. The principle governing this determination is absolutely irreconcilable with Thomism. St. Thomas knows only one ultimate end: eternal bliss, which can only be attained through the Church; moreover, the spirituality of the ultimate end implies that between temporal and spiritual power there is a hierarchical subordination of the means to the end. For Dante, on the other hand, man can obtain, through the exercise of political virtues, a human happiness completely distinct from heavenly bliss, even if the latter represents a higher end. The thesis of the “duo ultima” legitimizes the complete distinction between the political order and the religious order, which is equally universal to that of the Church, but autonomous and pursuing an end of earthly happiness."

"(About Dante Alighieri) Of course, one cannot expect the formal perfection of other writings, but that is simply because “it is a book,” whereas the natural expression of tragic consciousness, such as Weil's, is the aphoristic form."

"The hierarchy of dignity must not be confused with the hierarchy of jurisdiction. Such confusion, far from being homage to the order established by God among things, is a violation of it: and it is this confusion that allows “cupiditas” to prevail, which in philosophy means the opposite of justice, and in theology means the will perverted by sin. Therefore, recognition of the autonomy of orders is the authentic form of respect for the order established by God, or for the sovereignty of God himself."

"It is not that Dante intends to combat the cupiditas of the clergy in order to save the autonomy of the State; rather, “it is the struggle against cupiditas, the need to thoroughly permeate public life with religion, that leads him to distinguish between the orders.” In other words, the central point of his thinking, which leads him to overcome both Guelphism and Ghibellinism, is "the intuition of the concordance between the affirmation of the autonomy of the Empire, hitherto supported by heterodox thinkers, and that of the purification of the Church affirmed by spiritual writers," which is in line with what the best interpreter of Dante's philosophy, Étienne Gilson, defines as the singular and unique feature of his thought, irreducible to any source."

"The originality of Dante lies not so much in his affirmation of the autonomy of the state, but in the religious reason for which it is affirmed. This is the path to asserting the religiosity of politics and the religious meaning of secularism."

"The theocratic ideal is based not only, as is often repeated, even by distinguished writers and by Maritain himself, on the unity of faith, but also on the medieval non-problematization (at least not experienced problematization) of faith as truth. The theocratic ideal is unfeasible today, and not only from a prudential point of view and taking into account the actual situation, as too many theologians and, behind them, too many Catholics think; but it is unfeasible for ideal and logical reasons, because the spiritual condition of the modern age is precisely the problematization of faith as truth (how truth can become my truth). The theocratic ideal is therefore not, at least in my view, the absolute ideal of Christian politics, but its specification in relation to the spiritual situation of the Middle Ages: even if the unity of faith were to be reconstituted, the theocratic ideal would no longer be feasible, because it would be a reconstruction of unity subsequent to its problematization."

"[...] it is within the theology of original sin that the mutual autonomy of the Empire and the Church is understood."

"These days, I am writing an introduction to Monarchia by Dante. It is a work that contains some very interesting insights into current affairs, including what I believe to be an unsurpassable definition of “laity”."

"Philosophy is the hermeneutics of meaning, especially as historical data, so that it becomes significance, that is, decision, through cultural comparison that goes beyond mere memorization, by virtue of evaluation (theoretical moment) and practical-political impact (practical moment). Critical comparison of practical forms, to bring meaning (the data, we might say) to the value of significance."

"I understand philosophy as the transition from sense to meaning, through cultural and doctrinal mediation, through the structure of pure thought, and through the mediation of practice."

"I am the first to recognise this. When I began to develop this way of thinking – but let's go back a long way – I was the first to realise that I should leave that university. Interviewer: However, you never broke off your personal relationship or esteem for your teacher, Gustavo Bontadini? Emanuele Severino: We loved each other, and I still get emotional when I think about it. I remember when he was in his last days... ah, what a dear man... I went to see him in Via Stradella – he lived in Via Stradella, near Corso Buenos Aires – and I said to him: “Maestro, I am Emanuele Severino”. He, who had not opened his eyes for days, gave a start and opened his arms to me. We embraced for a long time. Then he let go of my arms and I left him."

"The thirst for knowledge is there, we know this from many signs: everything that can contribute to satisfying it, even if by modest means and to a modest extent, must be considered providential and cultivated with care."

"If it fails in this commitment to penetrate the human, to spread socially, philosophy has missed the opportunity offered to it by the times."

"Philosophy looks at reality, and is therefore theory, but it looks at it as it relates to the choice of ends and therefore to practical commitment."

"Educators must know how to measure the weight of what they promote."

"A generic humanitarian sentiment can lead to peace as well as war, to oppression as well as freedom, to violence as well as resignation."

"Between being and nothingness there is no middle ground."

"Cornelio Fabro essentially drew on Thomas Aquinas, while someone like Bontadini was first and foremost a follower of Giovanni Gentile."

"All disciplines have being as their ultimate material object; but it must be said that metaphysics has it as its formal object."

"Philosophy and metaphysics are notorious because of the endless disputes that have always devastated them."

"Could evil, sin, catastrophe, and even drugs be the occasional material that God offers to men so that they can somehow see, feel, and understand him?"

"[...] philosophy is like the horizon, which can shift here and there, but, as a horizon, is always there."

"Philosophy, in the great turning point that the history of the human spirit is undergoing today, seems called upon to take responsibility for the new form of humanism that is imposing itself."

"Padre Pio never theorised anything. The epochal disputes of the conciliar Church did not even touch him."

"Padre Pio always lived between heaven and earth. Literally."

"Well, science has not yet been able to prove that the vital principle of the human organism resides in any organ of the body. The integrative system of the body, considered as a “whole”, cannot in fact be localised in a single organ, however important, such as the heart or the brain. Brain and heart activity presuppose life, but they are not strictly speaking the cause of life. Activities should not be confused with their principle. Life is something elusive that transcends the individual material organs of the living being and cannot be measured materially, let alone created: it is a mystery of nature, which science is right to investigate, but over which science has no control. When science claims to create or manipulate life, it becomes philosophy and religion itself, slipping into “scientism”."

"(On brain death) The irreversibility of the loss of brain functions, ascertained by a ‘flat encephalogram’, does not prove the death of the individual. The total loss of the unity of the organism, understood as the ability to integrate and coordinate all its functions, does not in fact depend on the brain, nor even on the heart. The ascertainment of the cessation of breathing and heartbeat does not mean that the heart or lungs are the source of life. If legal and medical tradition, not only in the West, has always considered that death should be ascertained through the cessation of cardiovascular activity, it is because experience shows that the cessation of such activity is followed, after a few hours, by rigor mortis and then the beginning of the disintegration of the body. This does not happen in any way after the cessation of brain activity. Today, science allows women with flat encephalograms to carry their pregnancies to term and give birth to healthy babies. An individual in a state of “irreversible coma” can be kept alive with the support of artificial means; a corpse can never be revived, even if connected to sophisticated equipment."

"The truth is that the definition of brain death was proposed by Harvard Medical School in the summer of 1968, a few months after the first heart transplant performed by Christian Barnard (December 1967), to ethically justify heart transplants, which required that the heart of the donor still be beating, meaning that, according to traditional medical standards, he was still alive. In this case, the removal of the heart was equivalent to murder, albeit carried out “for a good cause”. Science posed a dramatic moral question: is it permissible to kill a sick person, even if they are terminally ill or irreversibly injured, in order to save another human life of superior “quality”?"

"The real problem is that the price to pay for saving these lives is the tragic one of suppressing others. The utilitarian principle that one can do evil to achieve good is being replaced by the Western and Christian maxim that it is not permissible to do evil, even to achieve a greater good. Whereas in the past the traditional “signs” of death were used to ascertain that a living person was not considered dead, today the new Harvard criterion treats the living as corpses in order to be able to transplant them."

"Wojtyla stands out as a leading figure in the Church's new phase of openness towards the East, moving beyond the purely diplomatic sphere."

"His sweet life Padre Pio began by flying to heaven [...], because he was never blessed on earth."

"Karol Wojtyla burst onto the scene in the 1980s with the solemn gait of the most famous pope in history. Famous, but not celebrated. [...] After fifteen months of pontificate, Pope Karol Wojtyla is no longer an unknown figure: yet the more the world knows him, the less it loves him."

"(About the Jehovah's Witnesses ) Their founder was a former Presbyterian and then Adventist, Charles Taze Russell. He preached the imminent end of this evil world and the advent of God's Kingdom on earth. And so he instilled in his followers the feverish activism of the great eve. They went from house to house, in pairs, to spread the Bible and a magazine, ‘The Watchtower’, founded in Brooklyn in 1879 and since then translated into all the languages of the world, the repository of their doctrine. A true organisational talent, Russell was the first to apply door-to-door advertising methods, the potential of a popular press such as Reader's Digest, and the appeal of the nascent cinematic arts to religious preaching. A magnificent film was, in fact, their advertisement."

"(About Padre Pio) His profile of holiness is everything except what one usually imagines: blue, haloed, joyful. Quite the opposite."

"(On abortion) [...] an unfortunate necessity that women are forced to resort to. I don't think it's a right."

"I believe that classes with separate characteristics (see w:it:classi differenziali) would help children with great potential to express themselves to the fullest, and even those with more difficulties would be helped in a special way. It is not discriminatory. For students with problems, I rely on specialists. I am not specialized in disabilities."

"[...] I don't see why it is necessary to have an anti-fascist license to express one's opinions. I also claim consideration for Mussolini, who is a statesman, as were Cavour, Stalin, and all men who have held positions of state: it is the first definition of statesman in the dictionary."

"If I see a homosexual, I'm not like Dracula with a crucifix."

"(About volleyball player Paola Egonu) I have never had any doubts about her Italian citizenship, and I am personally and wholeheartedly proud that she represents our country with her sporting excellence, but this cannot visually conceal her origins, which I am convinced she herself is proud of."

"(In elementary and middle school) There were those who had spent many years in Africa, those in Morocco, those in South America; their homes were filled with ever-changing and stimulating scents. It was then that I began to think of differences in language and culture as new territories to explore."

"What I criticize is the exhibitionist flaunting of this taste, which often tends to override what is, in fact, the common sense of the majority. Gay Pride? If they want to hold a parade in Rome or Turin, let them do it. One might wonder why they want to show off. Gay Pride claims to be fighting for rights, but even that is debatable. Rights are not differentiated; rights are for everyone. There are no rights for gays, rights for heterosexuals, rights for blondes, for brunettes, for those with blue eyes: there are rights for people. It's exhibitionism."

"Carla Bruni was my classmate from elementary school through middle school. Her father was an important industrialist in the tire industry, linked to the Pirelli group. She was a smart, lively child with a great passion for music."

"Quality is the story of differences."

"The first definition of statesman is a man of state, therefore Musssolini is a statesman. This is stated in the Treccani encyclopedia."