Leo XIV urges prayers and work for peace
Yesterday at Castel Gandolfo, the pope again called for action to "promote dialogue," and find solutions "without weapons" in the Middle East. This morning, he held his audience on Lumen Gentium. The Church is born from "God's plan for humanity”, and “Christ dwells in her and continues to give himself through the smallness and fragility of her members.”
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Speaking before some 11,000 faithful gathered this morning in St Peter's Square for the Wednesday general audience, Pope Leo did not address the war in the Middle East.
He did it last night, speaking to the press outside Villa Barberini, the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo. “Pray for peace, work for peace, less hatred. Hatred in the world is constantly increasing" was the pontiff's sad observation.
The appeal, which echoes the one he issued last Sunday after the Angelus prayer, is to "truly strive to promote dialogue" and find "solutions, without weapons, to resolve problems."
Today, Leo continued his series of catechesis on the documents of the Second Vatican Council, centred on his thoughts on the dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium as he has done over the past few weeks.
The title of today's catechesis is "The Church, a Visible and Spiritual Reality”. Speaking of the Church’s “complexity", he noted that it is "an orderly union of different aspects or dimensions within the same reality," or, to put it another way, it is “a well-organized body, in which the human and divine dimensions coexist”.
The "human" dimension, Leo explained, "is immediately perceptible." The Church is made up of women and men “who share the joy and struggle of being Christians."
For the pontiff, this aspect is also evident "in its institutional organization," but that alone is not sufficient to represent the "true nature of the Church.” For the latter, a "divine" dimension is needed, not “perfection" nor "superiority," but the product of “God's plan for humanity, realized in Christ.”
“The human and divine dimensions integrate harmoniously, without one overshadowing the other; thus, the Church lives in this paradox. She is a reality that is both human and divine, which welcomes the sinful man and leads him to God,” the pope explained.
The constitution Lumen gentium sheds light on this by turning to the “life of Christ”. For this reason, “those who met Jesus along the roads of Palestine experienced his humanity,” and those who chose to follow him opened themselves “to an encounter with God.”
“Christ’s flesh, his face, his gestures and his words visibly manifest the invisible God.” Thus, when looking at the Church close up, one can see “a human dimension made up of real people, who sometimes manifest the beauty of the Gospel and other times struggle and make mistakes like everyone else.”
Indeed, “it is precisely through her members and her limited earthly aspects that Christ’s presence and his saving action are manifested. As Benedict XVI said, there is no opposition between the Gospel and the institution; on the contrary, the structures of the Church serve precisely for the ‘realization and concretization of the Gospel in our time’.”
Leo went on to stress that the “holiness of the Church” lies with “the fact that Christ dwells in her and continues to give himself through the smallness and fragility of her members.” In the Church a “perennial miracle” takes place thanks to “God’s method: He makes himself visible through the weakness of creatures, continuing to manifest himself and to act,” he added.
“For this reason, Pope Francis, in Evangelii gaudium, exhorts us all to learn ‘to remove our sandals before the sacred ground of the other’.” Thus, it is possible today “to build up the Church [. . .] by building that spiritual edifice which is the body of Christ, through communion and charity among ourselves,” Leo said.
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