Abstract:

Benedict XVI teaches that the current crisis of faith would originate from the replacement of Christian hope in the kingdom of God with worldly hope in the kingdom of man.
In the language of Thomas Aquinas, this process of despair involves aversion (aversio) from the formal object of Christian hope and conversion (conversio) towards created goods.
This conversion –which seeks the reestablishment of earthly pa- radise– is eventually caused by the loss of faith but is immediately caused by the vice of acedia.
To this connection drawn up by Saint Thomas, we must add the role that the German Pontiff attributes to suffering in the origin of theological despair.

Key words:

Theological Dispair – Thomas Aquinas – Spe Salvi.