Summary of Pope Benedict XVI’s Wednesday General Audience.
(March 15, 2006) : Pope Benedict XVI in his weekly general audience addressed over
40 thousand people in St. Peter’s Square. His catechesis delved on the mystery of
Christ and the Church. The Pope said, "Dear Brothers and Sisters, in coming weeks,
our catechesis will focus on the mystery of Christ and the Church. Jesus willed to
found his Church upon the Apostles, and it is through their witness that we continue
to encounter him. The mission of the Apostles must be seen in the context of the
mystery of communion of God’s People, spanning both the old and the new Covenant.
Jesus’s entire ministry took place against the backdrop of Israel’s faith and hope,
and was aimed at gathering into one the eschatological People of God. Far from a
purely individualistic summons to conversion, his mission was directed to the establishment
of the community of the new and eternal Covenant. Jesus’ conscious decision to choose
the Twelve Apostles was a prophetic sign announcing the eschatological renewal of
the twelve tribes of Israel, the dawn of salvation and the fulfilment of God’s promises.
In the person of the Apostles, charged with the celebration of the Eucharist and the
forgiveness of sins, the Church has been made the sign and instrument of the Kingdom
of God in our midst. Christ can never be separated from the Church; through the Church
he remains ever present in his people, and in a special way in the successors of the
Apostles.