Pope John Paul II versus Albert Einstein
regarding the Revelation of God

An essay of Raymond Fontaine, PhD - August 2002

    Ten years ago, on October 11, 1992 Pope John Paul II published the Catechism of the Catholic Church. "It is offered," he wrote, "to every individual who wants to know what the Catholic Church believes."

In Chapter one, the Pope discusses man's knowledge of God. He first quotes St. Paul's letter to the Romans: "Ever since the creation of  the world, God's eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made."

Then the Pope quotes Vatican Council I which declared, "Our holy mother, the Church, holds and teaches that God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human reason."

All deists agree that nature reveals the existence of God. As Albert Einstein wrote, "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God."

Elsewhere Einstein wrote, "It is enough for me to reflect upon the marvelous structure of the universe and try humbly to comprehend an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifested in Nature."

Nature's revelation of God was enough for Einstein but not for the Pope. After writing five brief paragraphs on the revelation of God in nature, the Pope goes on to write 670 pages comprising 2816 paragraphs about another revelation of God. This one is entirely supernatural beyond human perception and verification. 

This revelation includes a virgin, who conceives a human child who is also divine. This man-god performs hosts of miracles defying the laws of nature, like walking on water and resurrecting the dead. After dying on the cross, he lives again and ascends into heaven. This supernatural revelation comprises countless other phenomena none of which humans can perceive and verify. The entire doctrine of the church can only be believed on the authority of the Pope who claims infallibility.

In his book, the Pope does not claim any firsthand information on this  supernatural revelation. He bases his report entirely on other humans, dating as far back as Abraham and Adam. His book has thousands of quotations: about 800 from the Old Testament; 1200 from the New Testament; 350 from 17 Ecumenical Councils; 250 from pontifical documents such as encyclicals; 160 from the Church's Canon Law;  300 from 65 ecclesiastical writers, such as St. Augustine and St. Ambrose. No quotation comes directly from God; all come from humans. 

When Einstein first announced his famous formula E=mc² (Energy equals Mass times the speed-of-light squared) he did not quote someone else. His source of information was nature itself.

Moreover, in his book, what the Pope writes about man's supernatural life cannot be observed and verified. It can only be believed on the testimony of humans. In effect, the Pope says, "You will just have to believe me." Many Catholics do; but five billion other humans don't. 

Furthermore,  when Einstein first offered his formula E=mc², he didn't say, "Just take my word for it". He invited scientists to check it out for themselves and verify it in nature. Scientists did just that and found Einstein's formula to be valid. 

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