VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI starts new cycle of catechesis on the apostolic Fathers: Pope Saint Clement’s Letter to the Corinthians expounds the Church’s identity and mission

Thursday, 8 March 2007

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - This week too the Pope’s weekly audience on March 7 was held first in St Peter’s and then in the Paul VI Hall. In St Peter’s the Pope addressing Italian Bishops from Piedmont accompanied by many of their respective faithful the Pope said “Also in Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta the Christian faith faces socio-cultural challenges, agnostic tendencies present in the doctrinal field, as well as claims for total ethic and moral autonomy. Today it is not easy to bear witness to and announce the Gospel” …“nevertheless there remains in the people a solid spiritual substrata … moreover on the part of lay faithful and groups of apostolic activity there is a marked sense of striving for holiness, the high measure of Christian life.” The Pope encouraged the Bishops to help their communities “be faithful followers of the Lord, valorising their spiritual potential and charisma”. The Pope asked student to make “Lent an opportunity to rediscover the gift of being a follower of Christ and with His help learn to obey the will of the Father”.
In the Paul VI hall the Pope reflected on Saint Clement “Bishop of Rome in the last years of the first century and the third successor of Peter after Linus and Anacletus. With regard to his life the most important testimony comes from Saint Ireneus, Bishop of Lyons towards the end of 202 AD. Ireneus writes that Clement "saw the Apostles", "he had met them", and "their preaching still resounded in his ears, their tradition was before his eyes". Later testimonies between the fourth and sixth century, give Clement the title of martyr.”
He was certainly the author of a “Letter to the Corinthians”, written on behalf of the Church in Rome following the death of Emperor Domitian and therefore the end of his persecution, and so after 96 AD. The Letter speaks of the “the concern of the Church in Rome, which in charity presides all the other Churches”. “Clement’s Letter - the Pope said - was prompted by concern for the difficulties faced by the Church in Corinth: in fact the priests of that community had been deposed by another group of young men”. Like Saint Paul he wrote two letters to the Corinthians, Clement stresses that God “offers us his forgiveness, his love, the grace to be Christians, to be His brothers and sisters. This is a statement which fills our life with joy and confirms our way of living: the Lord is always ahead of us with his goodness and his goodness is always greater that the greatest of our many sins. However we must respond consistently with the gift received and to the announcement of salvation with a generous and courageous path of conversion.”
The reason for the difficulties in Corinth, Clement observed, “may be found in a slackening of charity and other indispensable Christian virtues. So he urges the faithful to practice humility and brotherly love, two of the most basic and constitutive virtues of being Church”. Here Clement illustrates his ideal Church: “gathered in the One Spirit of grace poured out on us, and present in every member of the Body of Christ, in which all are united, none are separated, they are members of one another.” Pope Benedict XVI then explained the concept that “the clear distinction" between a lay Catholic" and the hierarchy in no way signifies contraposition, but simply the organic connection of a body, an organism, with different functions. In fact the Church is not a place of confusion and anarchy where people act as and when they please: each member of this articulately structured organism exercises a ministry in keeping with his or her calling. With regard to the community leaders, Clement explains clearly the doctrine of apostolic succession. It ruling norms derive in ultimate analysis from God himself”.
Clement’s letter concludes with a "great prayer" with which he “praises and thanks God for his marvellous loving providence, which created and continues to save and sanctify the world”. The Holy Father noted that the prayer also mentions governors: “By praying for the authorities Clement acknowledges the legitimacy of political institutions in the order established by God; at the same time he urges the authorities to respect God, "and exercise their powers received from God in peace, meekness and mercy". Cesar is not everything. There emerges another sovereignty whose origin and essence are not of this world they come from "above": the sovereignty of Truth which claims recognition also by the Rule of Law.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 8/3/2007 - righe 58, parole 862)


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