Vatican City, 5 November 2014 (VIS) –
The Holy Father dedicated today's catechesis to the hierarchical
dimension of the Church. Christ edifies the Church as His body
through her ministries, and it is through the episcopal ministry that
the Lord is present in His Church, guiding and caring for her.
“In the presence and in the ministry
of the bishops, the presbyters and the deacons”, he said, “we are
able to recognise the true face of the Church. ... And through these
brothers, elected by the Lord and consecrated by the sacrament of
ordination, the Church exercises her maternity”. Francis emphasised
that this office is not, however, an honour but rather a service to
be performed following Christ's example.
He also remarked that bishops must be
united, as a family. “When Jesus chose and called the Apostles, he
imagined them not separated from each other, but together, united
with Him, like one family. The bishops too constitute a single
college, gathered around the Pope, who is the guardian and guarantor
of this profound communion”. He added, “let us think of all those
bishops around the world who, while living in widely differing
locations, cultures, sensibilities and traditions … feel close to
one another and become an expression of the intimate bond, in Christ,
between their communities”.
The Pope concluded by explaining that a
healthy Church cannot exist if the faithful, deacons and presbyters
are not united with their bishop: “The Church separated from her
bishop is an ailing Church. This union of the faithful and the bishop
is willed by Jesus”.
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