I read in the newspaper: “The Church said…”, and a communiqué bearing the signature of the president of the Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral Care is reproduced in part. In reality, the Church did not say anything; not even the body of bishops can take credit for that text.
But the expression, very frequent in the press, reveals a confusion about the nature of the Church, which is mysteriously the Mystical Body of Christ and at the same time an organized institution in which the bishops are not mere authorities as in any other organization, but successors of the apostles of Jesus, endowed with a divine authority, with a specific mission of service to the ecclesial body, the laity, the baptized men and women, for whom they are preachers of the truth, counsellors, and guides to eternal life in the varied and difficult secular contexts in which their existence develops. Read more…