Is the Pope *really* condemning curiosity?

[major_clanger]

I saw a link to this on Facebook, accompanied by some unflattering comments about Pope Francis seemingly having anti-science views:

Pope: the spirit of curiosity distances one from God

Evan as an atheist from an English Protestant upbringing I find this surprising, which is why I suspect either an inadequate translation or a significant implied context that I am missing.

Comments

[brotherguy.livejournal.com]

From the Pope's document that came out yesterday... sorry for the length but I want to be sure to give you the whole context. Note that the topic of the document is "evangelization" so he is not trying to sneak it into the discussion but rather showing how support of science is consistent with his topic:

Dialogue between faith, reason and science

242. Dialogue between science and faith also belongs to the work of evangelization at the service of peace.[189] Whereas positivism and scientism “refuse to admit the validity of forms of knowledge other than those of the positive sciences”,[190] the Church proposes another path, which calls for a synthesis between the responsible use of methods proper to the empirical sciences and other areas of knowledge such as philosophy, theology, as well as faith itself, which elevates us to the mystery transcending nature and human intelligence. Faith is not fearful of reason; on the contrary, it seeks and trusts reason, since “the light of reason and the light of faith both come from God”[191] and cannot contradict each other. Evangelization is attentive to scientific advances and wishes to shed on them the light of faith and the natural law so that they will remain respectful of the centrality and supreme value of the human person at every stage of life. All of society can be enriched thanks to this dialogue, which opens up new horizons for thought and expands the possibilities of reason. This too is a path of harmony and peace.

243. The Church has no wish to hold back the marvellous progress of science. On the contrary, she rejoices and even delights in acknowledging the enormous potential that God has given to the human mind. Whenever the sciences – rigorously focused on their specific field of inquiry – arrive at a conclusion which reason cannot refute, faith does not contradict it. Neither can believers claim that a scientific opinion which is attractive but not sufficiently verified has the same weight as a dogma of faith. At times some scientists have exceeded the limits of their scientific competence by making certain statements or claims. But here the problem is not with reason itself, but with the promotion of a particular ideology which blocks the path to authentic, serene and productive dialogue.

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

Thank you - and no need to apologise for length, especially where it is to give context in respect of a query of mine where I raised the very point of lack of context.

That is certainly much more in line with what I understood Pope Francis' stance to be. As such, that makes me wonder even more whether, in the document I linked to, "curiosity" is being used in the sense of meaning scientific enquiry at all.

[coughingbear]

I suspect translation issues too - having followed your link, I am not certain I fully understand what's being said, but I don't read it as about curiosity as I would use the word - certainly in this bit:
"Curiosity, the Pope continued, impels us to want to feel that the Lord is here or rather there, or leads us to say: “But I know a visionary, who receives letters from Our Lady, messages from Our Lady”. And the Pope commented: “But, look, Our Lady is the Mother of everyone! And she loves all of us. She is not a postmaster, sending messages every day.”
and another part strikes me as more about not getting too caught up in gossip.

[liadnan]

Gossip and gnosticism (cf Br Guy's comment below) are both regular themes of his in the daily morning sermons. Which are of course made in the context of preaching on the readings for the day (which I haven't looked up). Major written documents like the exhortation, or encyclicals, are much more likely to give a full and coherent picture of his views.

[davidwake.livejournal.com]

Curiosity leads to knowledge: lack of curiosity leads to ignorance, which is bliss.

[brotherguy.livejournal.com]

"Curiosity" as in fad, peculiarity, oddity, strangeness, oddness... not in being eager to learn. A dedicated follower of fashion, for those of us old enough to be Kinks fans!

It's clear from context that the word he is using is describing the sense of always looking for novelty, kind of like the search for "the latest thing" and being one up on everyone else. Think of the technical term in theology, gnosticism, whose root comes from the word for knowledge but which doesn't mean "knowledge" so much as a desire to "be the one in the know."

[major-clanger.livejournal.com]

I suspect some of our mutual acquaintances would still defend that sense of 'curiosity', but I see what you mean.

And no need to make excuses for being a fan of The Kinks, although I would cite Waterloo Sunset as a more memorable work!

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Having had a chance to sit down and read the original Italian, I suspect you are correct in assuming a poor translation which is all the more surprising when you consider that it is taken from Vatican Radio's own website.

The Italian is rather more complex than the English translation makes it sound.

But what do I know? I'm a Quaker! :o)

[brotherguy.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure who is doing the translating; their normal English translator (a friend of mine) is on maternity leave right now!

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Which might explain a lot! :o)

Fwiw, I occasionally review historical tomes from the Dutch publishing house, Brill and some of their translations into English from other languages are ropey to say the least.

[smofbabe.livejournal.com]

I read this not in a scientific sense at all but more as an emphasis that only God is omniscient: that people in their lives should have the patience to watch things unfold rather than needing to know all of the answers immediately. I didn't read it as referring specifically to the search for knowledge.