Published in Rome, this new book is a collection of the letters exchanged between Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and the atheist mathematician, Piergiorgio Odifreddi.
Newsroom(19/10/2022 8:45 PM, Gaudium Press ) “On the Way in Search of Truth” is the new book that contains the exchange of letters and the narration of Benedict XVI’s meetings with the mathematician, Piergiorgio Odifreddi.
Published by Rizzoli, this work presents the letters between Benedict XVI and Odifreddi between 2013 and 2022. The book was publicly presented on 6
October at the Roman University LUMSA (La Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta).
It began in 2011 when Piergiorgio Odifeddi wrote an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI. The letter began with a quote from Joseph Ratzinger’s 1968 book “Introduction to Christianity“, which touched on topics such as Our Lord Jesus Christ and God.
Odifeddi, who was honorary president of the Union of Rationalist and Agnostic Atheists, did not reach out to Benedict again until 2013. After his resignation from the Pontificate, Benedict XVI replied to the Italian mathematician’s letter. A friendship was born then, “a rare thing” when it comes to different positions, explained Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.
Dialogue between Faith and Reason
On Benedict XVI’s attitude in responding, after his resignation, to the Italian mathematic18n, Fr. Fed8ri0o Lombardi commented, “It is a sign of (Benedict XVI’s) attention to the dialogue between faith, reason and science, and of the very voluntary and open attitude with which he has always lived.“
“If even a pope and an atheist can converse in friendship, it means that perhaps in life we can also behave like this,” Piergiorgio Odifreddi said.
The subjects of the first exchanges revolved around faith and science, but as the friendship evolved, the subjects were also on logic, life, death, anthropology, etc.
It was in a time of bereavement that the Pope and the mathematician grew even closer. In 2020, Pope Benedict XVI lost his brother, and Professor Odifreddi lost his mother. (FM)
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
