After quoting the famous “signs of the times” passage in Gaudium et spes (4), the International Theological Commission [= ITC] tells us that theologians have the obligation to engage the questions of their age, but with caution.¹ The ITC document continues by making an astonishing claim: “The more acute understanding of the world that results [from this discernment] cannot fail to prompt a more penetrating appreciation of Christ the Lord and of the Gospel since Christ is the Saviour of the world.”² In knowing the outlines of the world better, we can detect more insightfully the contours of the One who comes to save it.

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