Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Benedict XVI spoke today of the importance of God in creation and free will.

“[The Bible] is not intended as a manual of the natural sciences; it wants to help us understand the authentic and profound truth of things,” he said. “So the Scripture tells us that the origin of the world, our origin is not irrational or out of necessity, but reason and love and freedom.”

The Holy Father made the comments at today’s general audience at the Vatican in front of 8000 where as he continued his series of lessons on the importance of the Profession of Faith or Creed. He also spoke of why God is called the ‘Father Almighty’ and why God was the ‘Creator of heaven and earth.’

On the temptation to sin, the Pope said he believed that this temptation arose from people believing that God was keeping one from the best things in life and that happiness is being free of all limits. He said that evil entered the world as mankind began to believe in lies over truth, disrupting our relationship with God.

“We all carry within us the breath of life from God and every human life is under the special protection God,’ he said. ‘This is the deepest reason for the inviolability of human dignity against any attempt to evaluate the person in accordance with utilitarian criteria or the criteria of power. Being the image and likeness of God means that man is not closed in on himself, but has an essential reference in God.”

After the service had finished he tweeted “Everything is a gift from God: it is only by recognising this crucial dependence on the Creator that we find freedom and peace.”