At noon today, in the Sala Clementina at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience those who are participating in the Plenary meeting of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Dear brothers and sisters,
We meet at the conclusion of your Plenary Assembly; I greet you all cordially and thank the Cardinal Prefect for his courteous words.
We find ourselves within the Holy Year of Mercy. I hope that during this Jubilee, all the members of the Church will renew their faith in Jesus Christ who is the face of the Father's mercy, the path that unites God with man. Mercy is therefore the cornerstone that sustains the life of the Church: in fact, it is the first truth of the Church and of the love of Christ.
How then can we not desire that all Christian people - pastors and the faithful - rediscover and refocus their lives during the Jubilee on corporal and spiritual works of mercy? When, in the evening of life, we will be asked whether we have given food to the hungry and drink to those who are thirsty, we will also be asked whether we have helped people to overcome doubt, whether we were committed to welcoming sinners, warning them of the error of their ways or correcting them, whether we were able to combat ignorance, above all as it pertains to the Christian faith and to living well. Such attention to the works of mercy is important: it is not only a devotion. It is the concrete manner in which a Christian should act in a spirit of mercy. Once, recently, I met with an important group in the Paul VI Hall: it was full. I touched on the theme of the works of mercy. At a certain point, I stopped and asked: Who among you remembers the spiritual and corporal works of mercy? All those who remember them, please raise your hands. There were no more than 20 in the hall, filled with 7 thousand. We must begin again to teach these things to the faithful; this is very important.
Faith and charity provide us with a relationship of knowing and unifying ourselves with the mystery of Love, which is God himself. Even though God himself remains a mystery, in the person of Jesus, the effective mercy of God has become affective mercy, since He took on human flesh for the sake of mankind's salvation. The task entrusted to your Dicastery, finds in this point its ultimate foundation and justification. In fact, the Christian faith is not only a matter of knowledge to be stored up in memory, but the truth of living in love. For this reason, together with the doctrine of the faith, you must also maintain the integrity of morals, especially in the most delicate aspects of life. The presence of faith in the Christian person implies both an act of reasoning and a moral response to the gift that is given. In this regard, I thank you for your commitment and responsibility carried out in the exercise of treating the cases of abuse of minors by clergy.
Caring for the integrity of faith and morals is a delicate task. Fulfilling this mission requires a collegial commitment. Your Congregation places much value in the contribution of its Consultors and Commissioners, who I would like to thank for their precious and humble work; and I encourage you to continue your practice of dealing with questions in your weekly meetings and more importantly in your Ordinary and Plenary sessions. Such a process of synodal justice needs to be promoted at all levels of ecclesial life. In this sense, it was opportune last year that you organzied a meeting with the representatives of the Doctrinal Commissions of the European Episcopal Conferences to examine together some of the doctrinal and pastoral challenges. In this way, you help to arouse in the faithful a new missionary approach and a precious openness to the transcendent dimension of life, without which Europe would be in danger of losing the spirit of humanism that we all love and defend. I invite you to continue and to intensify your collaboration with these consultative bodies who help the Episcopal Conferences and each Bishop in their care for the doctrinal health of God's people in a time of rapid change and of growing complexity of problems.
Another of your important contributions to the renewal of ecclesiastical life is your study of the complementarity between hierarchical and charismatic gifts. According to the logic of the unity in legitimate difference - a logic that characterizes every authentic form of communion among the People of God -, hierarchical and charismatic gifts are called to collaborate in synergy for the good of the Church and of the world. The witness of this complementarity is more urgent today than ever before and represents an eloquent expression of the ordered plurality that characterizes every ecclesial community as a reflection of the harmonious community that is alive in the heart of the One and Triune God. The relationship between hierarchical and charismatic gifts refers in fact to its Trinitarian roots, in the relationship between the divine incarnated Logos (Word) and the Holy Spirit, which is still and always a gift of the Father and of the Son. This very root, if it is recognized and accepted with humility, enables the Church to be renewed in every time as a people which draws its unity from the unity between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit according to the words of Saint Cyprian (De oratione dominica, 23). Unity and plurality are the marks of a Church that, marked by the Spirit, is able to set out with confidence toward the goals that the Risen Lord points out throughout history. In these aspects, one can see how synodal dynamism, if it is properly understood, is born out of communion and makes its way toward an evermore faithful communion, deepened and expanded in service to the life and mission of the People of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, I assure you of my rememberance in prayer and I ask you to pray for me. May the Lord bless you and may Our Lady protect you.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
addressed to participants in the Plenary Assembly
of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Dear brothers and sisters,
We meet at the conclusion of your Plenary Assembly; I greet you all cordially and thank the Cardinal Prefect for his courteous words.
We find ourselves within the Holy Year of Mercy. I hope that during this Jubilee, all the members of the Church will renew their faith in Jesus Christ who is the face of the Father's mercy, the path that unites God with man. Mercy is therefore the cornerstone that sustains the life of the Church: in fact, it is the first truth of the Church and of the love of Christ.
How then can we not desire that all Christian people - pastors and the faithful - rediscover and refocus their lives during the Jubilee on corporal and spiritual works of mercy? When, in the evening of life, we will be asked whether we have given food to the hungry and drink to those who are thirsty, we will also be asked whether we have helped people to overcome doubt, whether we were committed to welcoming sinners, warning them of the error of their ways or correcting them, whether we were able to combat ignorance, above all as it pertains to the Christian faith and to living well. Such attention to the works of mercy is important: it is not only a devotion. It is the concrete manner in which a Christian should act in a spirit of mercy. Once, recently, I met with an important group in the Paul VI Hall: it was full. I touched on the theme of the works of mercy. At a certain point, I stopped and asked: Who among you remembers the spiritual and corporal works of mercy? All those who remember them, please raise your hands. There were no more than 20 in the hall, filled with 7 thousand. We must begin again to teach these things to the faithful; this is very important.
Faith and charity provide us with a relationship of knowing and unifying ourselves with the mystery of Love, which is God himself. Even though God himself remains a mystery, in the person of Jesus, the effective mercy of God has become affective mercy, since He took on human flesh for the sake of mankind's salvation. The task entrusted to your Dicastery, finds in this point its ultimate foundation and justification. In fact, the Christian faith is not only a matter of knowledge to be stored up in memory, but the truth of living in love. For this reason, together with the doctrine of the faith, you must also maintain the integrity of morals, especially in the most delicate aspects of life. The presence of faith in the Christian person implies both an act of reasoning and a moral response to the gift that is given. In this regard, I thank you for your commitment and responsibility carried out in the exercise of treating the cases of abuse of minors by clergy.
Caring for the integrity of faith and morals is a delicate task. Fulfilling this mission requires a collegial commitment. Your Congregation places much value in the contribution of its Consultors and Commissioners, who I would like to thank for their precious and humble work; and I encourage you to continue your practice of dealing with questions in your weekly meetings and more importantly in your Ordinary and Plenary sessions. Such a process of synodal justice needs to be promoted at all levels of ecclesial life. In this sense, it was opportune last year that you organzied a meeting with the representatives of the Doctrinal Commissions of the European Episcopal Conferences to examine together some of the doctrinal and pastoral challenges. In this way, you help to arouse in the faithful a new missionary approach and a precious openness to the transcendent dimension of life, without which Europe would be in danger of losing the spirit of humanism that we all love and defend. I invite you to continue and to intensify your collaboration with these consultative bodies who help the Episcopal Conferences and each Bishop in their care for the doctrinal health of God's people in a time of rapid change and of growing complexity of problems.
Another of your important contributions to the renewal of ecclesiastical life is your study of the complementarity between hierarchical and charismatic gifts. According to the logic of the unity in legitimate difference - a logic that characterizes every authentic form of communion among the People of God -, hierarchical and charismatic gifts are called to collaborate in synergy for the good of the Church and of the world. The witness of this complementarity is more urgent today than ever before and represents an eloquent expression of the ordered plurality that characterizes every ecclesial community as a reflection of the harmonious community that is alive in the heart of the One and Triune God. The relationship between hierarchical and charismatic gifts refers in fact to its Trinitarian roots, in the relationship between the divine incarnated Logos (Word) and the Holy Spirit, which is still and always a gift of the Father and of the Son. This very root, if it is recognized and accepted with humility, enables the Church to be renewed in every time as a people which draws its unity from the unity between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit according to the words of Saint Cyprian (De oratione dominica, 23). Unity and plurality are the marks of a Church that, marked by the Spirit, is able to set out with confidence toward the goals that the Risen Lord points out throughout history. In these aspects, one can see how synodal dynamism, if it is properly understood, is born out of communion and makes its way toward an evermore faithful communion, deepened and expanded in service to the life and mission of the People of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, I assure you of my rememberance in prayer and I ask you to pray for me. May the Lord bless you and may Our Lady protect you.
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