CSDC 456

The biblical vision inspires the behaviour of Christians in relation to their use of the earth, and also with regard to the advances of science and technology. The Second Vatican Council affirmed that man “judges rightly that by his intellect he surpasses the material universe, for he shares in the light of the divine mind”⁹⁴⁶ Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 15: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1036.. The Council Fathers recognized the progress made thanks to the tireless application of human genius down the centuries, whether in the empirical sciences, the technological disciplines or the liberal arts⁹⁴⁷ Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 15: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1036.. Today, “especially with the help of science and technology, man has extended his mastery over nearly the whole of nature and continues to do so”⁹⁴⁸ Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 33: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1052.. For man, “created in God's image, received a mandate to subject to himself the earth and all that it contains, and to govern the world with justice and holiness, a mandate to relate himself and the totality of things to him who was to be acknowledged as the Lord and Creator of all. Thus, by the subjection of all things to man, the name of God would be wonderful in all the earth. [The Council teaches that] throughout the course of the centuries, men have laboured to better the circumstances of their lives through a monumental amount of individual and collective effort. To believers, this point is settled: considered in itself, this human activity accords with God's will”⁹⁴⁹ Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 34: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1052..