This year has been the Year of Two Popes...

[Michie]

#3

12-30-13

This year ended with the image of two joined Popes. On December 23, Pope Francis went to visit the Pope emeritus Benedict XVI: Christmas wishes, sunrises and photo opportunity, together with a Pope Francis invitation for lunch to Pope Benedict.

This year has been the Year of Two Popes...

 

[WarriorAngel]

Benedict XVI told: «I remember, when I used go to Germany in the 1980s and ’90s, that I was asked to give interviews and I always knew the questions in advance. They concerned the ordination of women, contraception, abortion and other such constantly recurring problems. If we let ourselves be drawn into these discussions, the Church is then identified with certain commandments or prohibitions; we give the impression that we are moralists with a few somewhat antiquated convictions, and not even a hint of the true greatness of the faith appears. I therefore consider it essential always to highlight the greatness of our faith – a commitment from which we must not allow such situations to divert us».

Benedict XVI then added: «In the Church, the institution is not merely an external structure while the Gospel is purely spiritual. In fact, the Gospel and the Institution are inseparable because the Gospel has a body, the Lord has a body in this time of ours. Consequently, issues that seem at first sight merely institutional are actually theological and central, because it is a matter of the realization and concretization of the Gospel in our time.»

Certainly Pope Francis re-read this words, while it is widely spoken about possible reforms at least of the Curia organization. Pope Francis pastorality and Pope Benedict theology can together help the Church to get out of the crisis. This two souls cannot be detached the one from the other. And this is proved by Pope Francis continuous seeking for Benedict XVI – a seeking that aims to show a continuity and a friendship among the two Popes.