All are equal in the Church, Pope tells audience
June 26, 2013
At his weekly public audience on June 26, Pope Francis reminded the faithful that all members of the Church are equally important.
Even the Roman Pontiff is no more important than other Christians, the Pope said. “Yes, I am like each one of you. We are all equal; we are brothers and sisters.”
The Pope centered his talk on the image of the Church as a temple. In the Old Testament, he observed, the Temple was built “to give God a home.” In the New Covenant, “what was prefigured in the ancient Temple is carried out, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the Church.”
In this Church, this new “building,” every brick is equally necessary, the Pope said. “No one is secondary. No one is more important in the Church.”
At the same time, the Pope continued, the importance of each brick should prod Christians to examine their own activities, since if a brick is missing the structure is damaged. He concluded his talk with an exhortation to the faithful always to act as “living stones,” proclaiming the faith and providing a fitting home for God.
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Posted by: -
Jun. 27, 2013 3:26 PM ET USA
Actually, I'm not sure we ARE all equal in the Church. There's an Order of Governance in which priests, Bishops, and the Pope clearly take precedence in the Church, and there's an Order of Sanctity, known only to God, in which the lowest layman could possess greater sanctity than the Pope. And there are probably as many degrees of sanctity as there are individuals in the Church. Nope, it's definite: we're NOT all equal. What a notion!
