As the 20th century draws to a close we look back upon a period in which persons and peoples have striven most ardently (and not without marked achievement); yet it has been perhaps the most violent period of human history. This paradox may have its explanation.

Let us begin with the search to recover and affirm the human person. The search is as old as the life of humankind, but in this century it has had some remarkable successes. It achieved the overthrow of totalitarianisms on both the Fascist right and the Muscovite left; it has dispelled colonialism across the world and has proclaimed human rights as universal. All of this reflects remarkable progress in the recognition of the dignity of the person as a prime value.

If that were the whole story we could be satisfied in these achievements and hopeful for the future. Alas, there is more to the history of our century. These achievements have generally consisted in finally overcoming what had been a nightmare but a few years earlier. What is more, both the tragedy and the triumph may have come from the same generic source, namely, the search to affirm the human person, for like all things human this can be done ill or well.

It may be the tragic character of our humanity that our very attempts at great and good things can be carried out in too limited or single-minded a manner. This would seem to be true of our modern quest to affirm and promote human life as implemented under the rationalist fascination with clear and distinct ideas. This took the form of some attractive myths, which, as they spread into ever wider circles, gained ever more disciples:

- The myth of progress, which is associated with the belief that science, and technology based on science, can resolve all human problems and create a paradise on earth. Consumerism and an attitude directed toward possession ("to have") follow from acceptance of the belief that science and technology have unbounded possibilities;

- The messianistic myth which makes up the basis of what are described as "political religions"; these in turn are based upon the promise that humanity will be able to appropriate to itself powers which hitherto had been ascribed to God, and then will be able to create a kingdom of freedom and happiness on earth. Humanity needs no savior, it will save itself by effecting a change in socio-economic structures and attain paradise on earth.

The painful and costly experiences of the twentieth century have shown that the "absolutes" man has created have not fulfilled man’s aspirations; they have not created a paradise on earth, and have not eliminated all forms of alienation. On the contrary, they have brought forth enormous threats, new forms of alienation, and above all new forms of human slavery. The "great drama of our times" is that great achievements and great opportunities exist side by side with hitherto unencountered threats of the destruction of man or the total annihilation of humanity.

This enables us to ask another question. If the search to affirm the person as good can be perverted into excesses of violence, oppression and slavery, what are the conditions which can enable this search to be salvific. It would appear first of all that this search must be marked by openness. In contrast to the Hobbesian image of humans defending themselves in violent conflict against all others, whether this be in terms of one’s physical possessions, one’s territory or one’s ideology, true progress can take place only in a context which invites all to open and share, rather than to grasp, compete and conflict. If this be so, then the key to being human may lie somehow beyond man himself. Conversely, it has to be said wisely that to be without a transcendent is for man the essential, definitive and inescapable state of slavery.

Further, the quality in terms of which we live must be such that it opens to others in care and concern. Rather than the forces of matter as extension, impetus and hence violence against others, the key to human life is understanding of being in its origin, meaning and destiny, in terms not of antipathy but of care, not of conflict but of love.

Indeed the rejection of God which was expected to secure man complete freedom, in reality has led to a hitherto unencountered slavery and submission to human creations. Today better than ever we understand that the freedom of the human person, as his ability to decide and select from among various values and goods, is linked with the human person’s being open in unlimited love. Without this man becomes deformed, and even dies the worst death, namely, moral death.

Today, better and more clearly than a century ago, we know that loving transcendence not only does not cramp human freedom, but is the sole guarantee of human freedom. "Man cannot be truly free or serve the cause of the development of true freedom, if he does not acknowledge and does not experience the transcendence of his existence in relation to the world" (John Paul II, address on the XIV World Day of Peace, January 1, 1981).

Our experience in this century brings us then to two conclusions. One is the need for real transcendence, for being that transcends man. The other is that the very nature of being ultimately must be of the character not of matter, impetus and violence, but of understanding and concern. This sense of transcendence in being, which in turn is of the character of love, is at the root of all religions.

Thus, religion is an answer to those questions which arise in the life of every thinking person, regardless of his or her cultural, social or political environment. These are questions about the sources and meaning of human life (why and to what end one exists), the meaning of love, of duty, and above all those questions which arise from the inevitable reality of death. Religion is a response to human love, which neither science, nor highly developed technology, nor politics are in a position to change. Independently of these systems the human person is born, loves, creates, suffers and dies.

In acknowledging the transcendent dimension of human existence and the corresponding reality of the divine, religion gives meaning to the human person and sheds light upon this mysterious world and its incomprehensible history.

In the face of today’s widespread sociological and pragmatic concerns regarding the problems of culture, it is possible to see the human person anew with his or her openness to truth, good and beauty. To look at the human and his/her "source" points to the central importance of religion to the other domains of culture -- science, morality, creativity and the arts. Religion itself is the transcendence of culture as it provides perspective and meaning to the whole of human reality. Culture is nothing other than the manner of human existence, the road of human development, the bridge extending life eternal to life in time and vice versa.

It is here that Christ in his paradoxical character as both God and man has inspired human hopes through the centuries. Fully transcendent, he is yet fully human and hence immanent to humanity. This harmony is essentially healing to mankind. Whereas the human urge to be has generated the overbearing brutality of the ubermensch, the Christian God did not grasp power to himself but became man so that all might be saved. Conversely, one who insists on being human fully does not grasp this to himself in conflict with all others, but in the image of Christ is willing to give his life that all might live.

Since religion constitutes a cohesive group of responses to fundamental, existential human questions which confront each person and every society, and since it opens the path for human development, the means for achieving full realization, and a way of salvation, the religions in the various cultural formations, if practiced authentically, should open the way towards deep mutual acknowledgement and understanding of the other cultures. They have arisen in response to problems which are common to all; they bespeak a common source and goal of life.

Religion is an enormously complex and rich phenomenon, and there can be different ways of looking at it. Hence, there arise various kinds of knowledge about religion. Scientific knowledge, including such disciplines as history, sociology and psychology, afford a great deal of information, but do not resolve the central problems connected with religion. There is need also for a philosophy of religion and the theologies of particular religions.

Tranquil and profound philosophical reflection, complemented by the historical experience of the last century, shows how religion can render human existence intelligible and open the full horizon of human hope. It penetrates all the domains of human life and culture -- science, moral attitudes, creativity, the arts -- giving them inspiration and, from the personal point of view, justifying all the factors which make for a an open and fulfilling humanism.