MADRID, 17 (NE) Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gave yesterday a conference during the International Theological Conference, being held these days in Madrid to reflect on Pope John Paul II's encyclical "Fides et ratio." The conference, which dealt with the theme "Faith, truth and culture", took place and the Palace of Congresses and Expositions in the Spanish capital city.

    The Prefect said that the Pope's last encyclical aimed to "restore the subject of truth in a world marked by relativism". Without truth "faith loses the air in which it breathes", the Cardinal emphasized. The encyclical Fides et ratio, he continued, "simply wishes to encourage once again to the adventure of truth".

    Further on, Cardinal Ratzinger stated that "if people stop talking about God and man, about sin and grace, death and eternal life, then any scream our sound will be just a meaningless attempt forget the silence of that which is properly human". He also recalled that the dethronement of theology and metaphysics, far from liberating human thought, as it once was pretended, has made it even more limited.

    The Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith also gave a press conference before the event. Answering several questions from journalists, the Cardinal said that today many faithful "believe that all religions are equal, that each one is a way to truth and that it does not matter to belong to one or another. Well," he emphasized, "we Catholics confess that the way to truth is in the Catholic Church."

    Asked about issues regarding the defense of life, Cardinal Ratzinger stressed that the right to life is at the center of all other rights, and therefore cannot be violated by any legislation. He further added that "Catholics are convinced that any human being can understand that a fetus is a person and has every right to live."