EUROPE/SPAIN - Archbishop of Toledo Cardinal Cañizares says “the Church will always proclaim the truth of the Gospel, in order to serve man, she will never be silent, although this may cause her insults and abuse”

Toledo (Agenzia Fides) - “The Church has no other Word to say except Christ, no other treasure except Christ, no other power except the power of Christ who came not to be served but to serve. About this Word the Church will never be silent, although many powers in the world would like to see the Word restricted to only ecclesial spaces, she will never allow it to die”. This was part of a homily given by Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Archbishop of Toledo (Spain), during Mass in Toledo Cathedral on Sunday 3 February. “The Church will not squander this treasure - the Cardinal said - but continue to share it with all men and women. She will never renounce the power of Jesus Christ which consists in serving, loving and protecting people. Because the Church has no other word, treasure or power than Christ, and her sole aim is to serve all men and women and stake everything on mankind”.
The Church “will always protect human life in every stage from conception to natural death"; "she will never cease to proclaim and claim under every circumstance the dignity and inviolability of every human person and his or her fundamental human rights, including freedom of conscience, religious freedom and freedom to educate”; “she will at all times, inopportune and opportune, proclaim the Gospel and the truth of the family, calling everyone to work in this direction”. The Church will fulfil her mission “although this brings her insults and abuse, or subjects her to false and inopportune judgement”.
Commenting the Gospel of the Beatitudes, the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo recalled that in the Beatitudes Jesus reveals “the truth of man called to full happiness, loved by Him to the end and made to share in His greatness and dignity as a goal and vocation”. “The beatitudes place us before decisive moral decisions”.
This is what the Church teaches - said Archbishop Cañizares Llovera - and what “the Spanish hierarchy, your Bishops, so often opposed, rejected and criticised, have always handed on”. Indeed the ultimate reason for the Pastoral Instructions and Statements issued by the Spanish Bishops' Conference in recent years “is the truth of the Gospel, which must never be silent in order to serve mankind, service which calls first of all for obedience to God ”. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 4/2/2008; righe 29, parole 413)