2012-10-12 17:02:39

Pope says Church is always new and relevant


(October 12, 2012) The Church of Christ is always new and up-to-date, without breaking away with tradition nor compromising its truths while adapting itself to the current times. Pope Benedict XVI made this remark on Friday to some 120 presidents of episcopal conferences worldwide and bishops who participated in the Second Vatican Council, some 70 of whom are still alive today. He spoke to them the day after he launched the Year of Faith with a solemn Mass in St. Peter’s Square, to mark the golden jubilee of the start of the Second Vatican Council. Pope Benedict noted that Pope John XXII, persistently used the word ‘update’ during the great Council which he convoked in 1962. The intuition with which he used the word “update’ has proved true even today. “Christianity,” the Pope said, “should not be regarded as "something of the past," nor should it be seen with the eyes constantly turned "backwards" because Jesus Christ is yesterday, today and forever. Christianity is marked by the presence of the eternal God, who entered time and is present at all times, because time flows from his creative power, from his eternal "today". This is why Christianity is always new, the Pope said, explaining that this relevancy of Christianity does not mean a break with tradition, but rather expresses its continued vitality. Neither does it mean reducing and lowering the faith to the fashion of the times, according to tastes or the public opinion. On the contrary, he said, we must carry the ‘today’ of our times to the ‘today’ of God, just as the Council Fathers did. The Church in her journey in history, Pope Benedict said, must always speak to the modern man, and this can be done only by those who have deep roots in God and are led by Him, and not by those who follow the fleeting moment and a comfortable way. Later, Friday, Pope Benedict XVI hosted a lunch for 500 synod fathers, Vatican II participants and bishops conference presidents. Joining them were were also Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the spiritual head of Orthodox Christians worldwide, and Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, the spiritual head of the Anglican communion worldwide.







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