Thursday, September 16, 2010

From Pope Benedict's UK Mid-flight Press Conference "Church that seeks to be particularly attractive is already on the wrong path"


From the full text of the Papal News Conference on the plane to the UK

As usual with this Papal Airplane news conferences if there is a controversal subject (like sex abuse) the rest of the interesting stuff goes out the window as to the media. He is one Q @ A I noted:

Q-The UK, like many other Western countries – there is an issue that you have already touched on in the first answer –it is considered a secular country. There is a strong atheist movement, even for cultural reasons. However, there are also signs that religious faith, particularly in Jesus Christ, is still alive on a personal level. What can this mean for Catholics and Anglicans? Can anything be done to make the Church as an institution, more credible and attractive to everyone?

A. – I would say that a Church that seeks to be particularly attractive is already on the wrong path, because the Church does not work for her own ends, she does not work to increase numbers and thus power. The Church is at the service of another: she serves, not for herself, not to be a strong body, rather she serves to make the proclamation of Jesus Christ accessible, the great truths and great forces of love, reconciling love that appeared in this figure and that always comes from the presence of Jesus Christ.

In this regard, the Church does not seek to be attractive in and of herself, but must be transparent for Jesus Christ and to the extent that she is not out for herself, as a strong and powerful body in the world, that wants power, but is simply the voice of another, she becomes truly transparent for the great figure of Christ and the great truth that he has brought to humanity.

The power of love, in this moment one listens, one accepts. The Church should not consider herself, but help to consider the other and she herself must see and speak of the other. In this sense, I think, both Anglicans and Catholics have the same simple task, the same direction to take. If both Anglicans and Catholics see that the other is not out for themselves but are tools of Christ, children of the Bridegroom, as Saint John says, if both carry out the priorities of Christ and not their own, they will come together, because at that time the priority of Christ unites them and they are no longer competitors seeking the greatest numbers, but are united in our commitment to the truth of Christ who comes into this world and so they find each other in a genuine and fruitful ecumenism.

Related posts
Early Theme of Pope Benedict's UK Visit Clear- battle against a secular “dictatorship of relativism
Papal Visit UK 2010: Pope’s homily at Bellahouston Park – full text and links
Pope Benedicts Trip to UK Vids and Text of Pope Benedict And Queen Elizabeths Remarks
Striking Vid of the World War II Generation- Pope Benedict. Queen Elizabeth, and Prince Phillip (Updated With Awesome Article)
Pope Benedict On Plane To UK For Papal Trip Talks Sex Abuse and Other Topics -Links
God Save the Queen and the Pope - Pope Comes the UK Today (Links)

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