St John Paul II wrote about faith and science: "Science can purify religion from error and superstition; religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes."
Contrary to the belief that faith and reason are at odds, the late pope believed that the two are necessary partners. Together they can enrich, nourish and challenge each other to be fully what they are called to be, he wrote to the director of the Vatican Observatory in 1988.
He referred to Catholic scientists as a "key resource" in uniting science and religion.
