The Foundation Science and Faith, STOQ

In December 2013 the first meeting of the STOQ Foundation's Scientific Committee was held in the offices of the Dicastery with Prof. Piero Benvenuti being appointed as Secretary.

The then-Secretary of State, Card. Tarcisio Bertone, had on 10 January 2012 published the content of an Audience during which the Holy Father Benedict XVI had constituted the “Fondazione Scienza e Fede – STOQ”, in the State of the Vatican City.

The creation of the Foundation was promoted by Cardinal Ravasi following the request of several Pontifical Universities based in Rome to give a formal continuity to the STOQ Project, a nearly decade-old initiative which had seen remarkable success in promoting the dialogue Science, Theology and the Ontological Quest. This in turn had been launched on the wake of the Galileo Commission under the presidency of Cardinal Poupard.

The STOQ Foundation oversees a pooling of resources and initiatives, lectures and academic programmes between the Pontifical universities and the scientific community. Workshops, conferences, publications, courses, even exhibitions on the themes that connect the natural sciences, philosophy and theology.

On 6 December 2013 the first meeting of the Scientific oversight Committee was held on the premises of the Pontifical Council for Culture – which is also home to the soon-to-be-opened “Peter E.Hodgson” Memorial Library – and the aims, objectives, members, functions and secretariat of the Foundation were formalised under the Pro-Presidency of Cardinal Ravasi and the Presidency of Piero Benvenuti.

Other Members include Prof. Gianluigi Cardinali, Andrea Moro, María Ángles Martín Rodriguez-Ovelleiro, Javier de Centra de Larragán, Guy Consolmagno, Dominique Lambert as well as institutional representatives of the following universities: Lateran, Gregorian, Regina Apostolorum, Angelicum, Salesianum, Santa Croce, and Urbaniana.