Foreword

ENCYCLICAL LETTER 
 FIDES ET RATIO 
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF 
JOHN PAUL II 
TO THE BISHOPS 
OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 
ON THE RELATIONSHIP 
BETWEEN FAITH AND REASON

My Venerable Brother Bishops, 
Health and the Apostolic Blessing!

Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves (cf. Ex 33:18; Ps 27:8-9; 63:2-3; Jn 14:8; 1 Jn 3:2).