The year of Faith: Introduction (General Audience, 17 October 2012)

Catecheses "Year of Faith" - Introduction

"The 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council is an important opportunity to return to God, to deepen our faith and live it more courageously, and to strengthen our belonging to the Church, “teacher of humanity”. It is through the proclamation of the Word, the celebration of the sacraments and works of charity that she guides us to meeting and knowing Christ, true God and true man. This is not an encounter with an idea or with a project of life, but with a living Person who transforms our innermost selves, revealing to us our true identity as children of God".

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ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE PLENARY MEETING OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH

ADDRESS - TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE PLENARY MEETING OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH (January 27, 2012)

"The centre of true ecumenism is, on the contrary, the faith in which the human being finds the truth which is revealed in the Word of God. Without faith the entire ecumenical movement would be reduced to a form of “social contract” to which to adhere out of common interest, a “praxeology”, in order to create a better world. The logic of the Second Vatican Council is quite different: the sincere search for the full unity of all Christians is a dynamic inspired by the Word of God, by the divine Truth who speaks to us in this word".

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Speech to the Bishops of the United States of America - January 19, 2012: in the service of the evangelization of American culture and the building of the civilization of love

Speech - To the Bishops of the United States of America on their ad Limina visit (January 19, 2012)

"The Church in the United States is called, in season and out of season, to proclaim a Gospel which not only proposes unchanging moral truths but proposes them precisely as the key to human happiness and social prospering"

"When a culture attempts to suppress the dimension of ultimate mystery, and to close the doors to transcendent truth, it inevitably becomes impoverished and falls prey, as the late Pope John Paul II so clearly saw, to reductionist and totalitarian readings of the human person and the nature of society".

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Angelus, 15 january 2012 - The mediator, helping the persons called to recognize the voice of God and follow it

Ángelus - 15 january 2012

"The very Christian faith in itself presupposes proclamation and witness: in fact they consist in adhering to the good news that Jesus of Nazareth is dead and risen, that he is God"

"But this is not to forget the fundamental role of parents, who with their genuine and joyful faith and their marital love show their children that it is beautiful and possible to build a whole life on the love of God". 

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Angelus, Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (8 January 2012)

Angelus - Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (8 January 2012)

"Being born is never a choice, we are not asked first whether we wish to be born. Yet, in life, we can develop a free attitude with regard to life itself: we can regard it as a gift and, in a certain sense “become” what we are: children. This transition marks a turning point of maturity in our existence and in our relationship with our parents, which is filled with gratitude."

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