Holy Spirit animates Church, Pope tells Pentecost audience
June 13, 2011
Pentecost marks the “baptism of the Church,” Pope Benedict XVI told a midday audience on the feast day, June 12.
At Pentecost, the Pope said, God gave the Church his law of love, “writing by means of the Holy Spirit, not upon tablets of stone, but in the hearts of the apostles.”
Earlier, in his homily at Mass, the Pope had spoken of how the Holy Spirit gives life to the Church. He stressed:
The Church is not the result of human will, of reflection, of man's abilities or his capacity for organization. If this were the case she would have passed out of existence a long time ago, just as all human things pass. She is, rather, the Body of Christ animated by the Holy Spirit.
From the outset, the Holy Father continued, the Church was universal, because the Holy Spirit is universal. Thus, he said, the Church “embraces the entire world, crossing frontiers of race, class and nation, breaking down barriers and uniting mankind in the proclamation of the One and Triune God.”
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Further information:
- Pentecost Was the Baptism of the Church (VIS)
- The Church Was Catholic from the Very First Moment (VIS)
- Pope Benedict XVI on Pentecost: martyrs intercede for world peace! (Vatican Radio)
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