Joan of Arc an example of service for politicians today
St. Joan of Arc is "a beautiful example of holiness for lay people involved in politics”,
especially in “the most difficult situations". Continuing his series of lessons on
the great women in the Church of the Middle Ages, Pope Benedict XVI dedicated his
Wednesday audience to the French saint burnt at the stake in 1430, at the young age
of 18.
Raised in a religious family, Joan enjoyed mystical experiences from
an early age. At a time of crisis in the Church and of war in her native France,
she felt God’s call to a life of prayer and virginity, and to personal engagement
in the liberation of her compatriots. At the age of seventeen, Joan began her mission
among the French military forces; she sought to negotiate a just Christian peace between
the English and French, took an active part in the siege of Orleans and witnessed
the coronation of Charles VII at Rheims. Captured by her enemies in 1429, she was
tried by an ecclesiastical court and burnt at the stake as a heretic; she died invoking
the name of Jesus.
In comments in Italian he described her as “one of those
strong women who brought the light of the Gospel in history to the end of the Middle
Ages", whose luminous witness invites us to a high standard of Christian life: making
prayer the mainstay of our days, following the will of God whatever it may be, living
love without favouritisms and without limits".
Pope Benedict observed that
her trial “is a shocking page in the history of the Saints and also an illuminating
page on the mystery of the Church which, in the words of Vatican II, is at once holy
and always in need of purification. It was a dramatic encounter between this Saint
and her judges, who were clergymen. Joan was accused by them and found guilty, to
be condemned as a heretic and sent to the terrible death of the fire".
He
says her judges were "theologians who lacked the charity and humility to see the action
of God in this young woman " and who bring to mind the words of Jesus, "the mysteries
of God are revealed to those who have the hearts of children, while remaining hidden
from the learned and wise. " Thus, Joan’s judges "were fundamentally unable to understand
her, to see the beauty of her soul: they did not know they were condemning Saint”.
However,
concluded Pope Benedict “her unjust condemnation was overturned twenty-five years
later. At the heart of Saint Joan’s spirituality was an unfailing love for Christ
and, in Christ, for the Church and for her neighbour. May the prayers and example
of Saint Joan of Arc inspire many lay men and women to devote themselves to public
life in the service of God’s Kingdom, and encourage all of us to live to the fullest
our lofty calling in Christ”.