<<Print>>

Belief in God is not only compatible with science, it is ultimately necessary for the preservation of human life on earth, Pope Benedict XVI said. "Faith, truly lived, does not conflict with science, rather it cooperates with it, offering it basic criteria so that it promotes the good of everyone, asking that it forsake only those efforts that -- by going against God's own plan -- can produce effects that backfire against humanity," he said. The pope spoke about "the reasonableness of faith as an encounter with the splendor of God's truth" during his weekly general audience Nov. 21. "It is reasonable to believe," he told 6,000 pilgrims gathered in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall. "Our lives are at stake." While science is constantly discovering new truths about man and the cosmos, faith reveals what is truly good for humanity and "opens the horizon toward which (humanity) must direct its journey of discovery," he said.