It happened on OCTOBER 4

Today is the liturgical feast of St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), the patron saint of Italy. St. Francis embodied a vision of nature that reflects a loving and providential image of God. Nature is no longer an impersonal, sacralized mother, but rather joins man as a sister in praising God the Father. In Catholic theology, Franciscan spirituality has inspired contemporary reflections on ecology. Pope Francis explicitely reffered to St. Francis in the publication of his Encyclical Laudato si.

1582

The Gregorian Calendar was fully implemented throughout Europe, replacing the Julian Calendar. Pope Gregory XIII had instigated the reform, which the German Jesuit mathematician Clavius gave its final touch. On behalf of the Pope, he set the first day of the Gregorian Calendar as October 15, skipping ten days from the last day of the Julian Calendar on October 4, in order to synchronize the new calendar with the seasons.

1947
In 1947, Max Planck died in Göttingen (Germany). A German theoretical physicist, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918 for his development of quantum theory. A defender of cognitive realism and an author of many philosophical works, his vision of the relationship between religion and science was a harmonious one.

INTERS.org

400th Anniversary: Blaise Pascal's birth (1623 - 1662)

Pope Francis, The Grandeur and Misery of Man, Apostolic Letter on the IV Centenary of the Birth

Blaise Pascal and the Youth of the Sixty-Eight, by Giuseppe Tanzella - Nitti

Pascal on Faith and Reason: Thoughts beyond the Wager, by Luca Arcangeli

What was the influence of Blaise Pascal in the development of science in the seventeenth century?, by Luca Granieri

The Inescapable Human Reflection on the Ultimate Questions, from Penseés, nn. 194-195

Truth is known not only with reason, but also with the heart, from Penseés, nn. 282, 245

Pascal's  "Memorial" 

    

Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science

The Encyclopedia, published by the Centro di Documentazione Interdisciplinare di Scienza e Fede operating at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, provides new, scholarly articles in the rapidly growing international field of Religion and Science (ISSN: 2037-2329). INTERS is a free online encyclopedia.

Anthology and Documents

To emphasize and spread relevant documents within the scientific community, this section provides key materials concerning the dialogue among science, philosophy and theology.

   

Special Issues

We offer here a selection of comments and documents on special issues in Religion and Science, collected for anniversaries and/or for the relevance of the topics.

Suggested Readings

Intelligence? Understanding? Wisdom? Loyola Hank Center, Nexus Journal, April 26, 2023
Why Theology Should Take Science Seriously Commonweal Magazine, March 27, 2023
New asteroids named for Jesuits and a Pope The Tablet, February 25, 2023
Lost Video of Georges Lemaître, Father of the Big Bang Theory, Recovered Vatican Observatory, February 6, 2023
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