VATICAN CITY, 9 NOV 2008 (VIS) - At midday today, Benedict XVI appeared at the window of his study to pray the Angelus with thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.
The Pope recalled how today's liturgy marks the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, known as "mother and head of all the churches of the City and the World". The basilica was the first to be built following the emperor Constantine's 313 Edict of Milan which granted Christians the freedom to practice their religion. It was consecrated by Pope Sylvester around the year 324. Originally dedicated to the Blessed Saviour, only in the sixth century did it acquire the tiles of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.
"Honouring this sacred building in this way", the Pope explained, "the intention is to express love and veneration for the Roman church which, as St. Ignatius of Antioch says, 'presides over the charity' of the entire Catholic communion.
"On this solemnity", he added, "the word of God reminds us of an essential truth: the temple of bricks and mortar is a symbol of the living Church, the Christian community. In their Letters the Apostles Peter and Paul understood this as being a 'spiritual edifice' built by God with 'living stones', which are Christians, upon the one foundation which is Jesus Christ, Who in His turn is described as the 'cornerstone'".
"The beauty and harmony of the churches, which are intended to give praise unto God, also invites us, as limited and sinful human beings, to convert ourselves to form a 'cosmos', a well-ordered construction in close communion with Jesus, Who is the true Saint of saints. This process reaches its culmination in the Eucharistic liturgy in which the 'ecclesia', in other words the community of the baptised, comes together to hear the Word of God and to draw nourishment from the Body and Blood of Christ. Around this dual banquet the Church of living stones is built in truth and charity, and moulded within by the Holy Spirit".
Today's festivity, the Pope concluded, "celebrates an ever-relevant mystery: the fact that God wants to build Himself a spiritual temple in the world". It also reminds us "of the importance of the real buildings in which the community gathers to celebrate the praises of God. Each community, in fact, has the duty to protect its own sacred buildings, which constitute a precious religious and historical heritage".
ANG/DEDICATION LATERAN BASILICA/... VIS 20081110 (420)
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