Of doves and reform, Pope on St. Robert Bellarmine
Pope Benedict XVI continued his series on the great Doctors of the Church, turning
this Wednesday to the 16th Jesuit theologian, Saint Robert Bellarmine, an outstanding
figure of a troubled age in which "a serious political and religious crisis provoked
a split between entire nations and the Holy See".
St. Robert Bellarmine, following
an excellent cultural and humanistic education, entered the Society of Jesus in 1560.
He studied in Rome, Padua and Leuven and was later made cardinal and archbishop of
Capua, Italy. He held high office in the service of the Pope as a member of several
congregations and head of Holy See diplomatic missions to Venice and England. During
his final years he wrote a number of books on spirituality in which he condensed the
fruits of his annual spiritual exercises. He was beatified and canonised by Pope Pius
XI, who also declared him a Doctor of the Church.
"His "Controversiae", or
'Disputationes' are still a valid point of reference for Catholic ecclesiology", said
the Holy Father. "They emphasise the institutional aspect of the Church, in response
to the errors then circulating on that topic. Yet Bellarmine also threw light on invisible
aspects of the Church such as Mystical Body, which he explained using the analogy
of the body and soul, in order to describe the relationship between the interior richness
of the Church and her visible exterior features.
"In this monumental work,
which seeks to categorise the various theological controversies of the age, he avoids
polemical and aggressive tones towards the ideas of the Reformation but, using the
arguments of reason and of Church Tradition, clearly and effectively illustrates Catholic
doctrine.
"Nonetheless", the Pope added, "his true heritage lies in the way
in which he conceived his work. His burden of office did not, in fact, prevent him
from striving daily after sanctity through faithfulness to the requirements of his
condition as religious, priest and bishop. ... His preaching and catechesis reveal
that same stamp of essentiality which he learned from his Jesuit education, being
entirely focused on concentrating the power of the soul on the Lord Jesus, intensely
known, loved and imitated".
In another of his books, "De gemitu columbae" in
which the Church is represented as a dove, Robert Bellarmine "forcefully calls clergy
and faithful to a personal and concrete reform of their lives, in accordance with
the teachings of Scripture and the saints. ... With great clarity and the example
of his own life, he clearly teaches that there can be no true reform of the Church
unless this is first preceded by personal reform and conversion of heart on our part".
"If
you are wise, then understand that you were created for the glory of God and for your
eternal salvation", said the Pope quoting from one of the saint's works. "Favourable
or adverse circumstances, wealth and poverty, health and sickness, honour and offence,
life and death, the wise must neither seek these things, nor seek to avoid them per
se. They are good and desirable only if they contribute to the glory of God and to
your eternal happiness, they are bad and to be avoided if they hinder this".
The
Pope concluded: "These words have not gone out of fashion, but should be meditated
upon at length in order to guide our journey on this earth. They remind us that the
goal of our life is the Lord. ... They remind us of the importance of trusting in
God, of living a life faithful to the Gospel, and of accepting all the circumstances
and all actions of our lives, illuminating them with faith and prayer".
Before
today's audience, the Holy Father blessed a statue of St. Maron, founder of the Maronite
Church which is particularly widespread in Lebanon and Syria. The 4.5-metre high Carrara-marble
statue, which has been placed in the last empty niche on the outside wall of the Vatican
Basilica, is the work of Spanish sculptor Marco Augusto Duenas.
Among those
present at the ceremony were His Beatitude Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, patriarch
of Antioch of the Maronites; Michel Sleiman, president of the Republic of Lebanon,
and various religious and civil authorities. Listen: