VATICAN CITY, MAY 27, 2007 (VIS) - Pentecost, the Solemnity in which "the liturgy brings us to relive the birth of the Church," was the theme of Benedict XVI's meditations before praying the Regina Coeli with thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square.
"We can say, then," the Pope told the faithful, "that the Church had her solemn inauguration with the descent of the Holy Spirit. In that extraordinary event we find the essential and distinguishing features of the Church: The Church is one, like the community of the Pentecost which was united in prayer and 'of one heart and soul.' The Church is holy, not because of her merits but because, moved by the Holy Spirit, her gaze is fixed on Christ in order to conform herself to Him and to His love. The Church is catholic, because the Gospel is addressed to all peoples and for this reason, from the very beginning, the Holy Spirit brought her to speak all languages. The Church is apostolic because, built upon the foundation of the Apostles, she faithfully safeguards their teaching through the uninterrupted chain of apostolic succession.
"The Church moreover," Pope Benedict added, "is by her nature missionary. Since the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit has not ceased to impel her along the roads of the world, to the very ends of the earth and to the end of time.
"This fact ... is already alluded to in the Acts of the Apostles which describes the passage of the Gospel from the Jews to the pagans, from Jerusalem to Rome. Rome represents the world of the pagans and, hence, all those peoples who are outside the ancient people of God."
"The Acts of the Apostles end with the arrival of the Gospel in Rome," the Pope concluded. "It can, then, be said that Rome is the real name of catholicity and of missionary endeavor, that it expresses faithfulness to the origins, to the Church of all times, to a Church that speaks all languages and reaches out to all cultures."
ANG/PENTECOST/... VIS 20070528 (350)
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