Of Faith And Formulas
By RAY CAVANAUGH Pope Francis just published an apostolic letter, Sublimitas Et Miseria Hominis (“The Grandeur and Misery of Man”), to mark the 400th anniversary of the birth of Blaise Pascal on June 19, 1623.The papal letter describes Pascal as “open to ever new and greater horizons” and “marked by a fundamental attitude of awe and openness to all reality.”This letter is not the first time Francis has acknowledged the French polymath who made important contributions to mathematics, physics, and philosophy. In a 2017 interview, Francis went so far as to say that Pascal “deserves beatification.”Born in central France, Pascal had two sisters. His mother died when he was just age three, and his father was a prominent lawyer with…Continue Reading