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Skriven 2006-01-23 18:14:56 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service - Press Release
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                The following press release is Copyrighted by the
                          Vatican Information Service.
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                               VIS-Press releases

LET US RETRIEVE THE WORD "LOVE"

VATICAN CITY, JAN 23, 2006 (VIS) - This morning, Benedict XVI participated in a
congress organized by the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum." The event is being
held in the Vatican's New Synod Hall on January 23 and 24, and its theme, taken
from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, is: " ... But the greatest of
these is love."

In his address, the Holy Father made frequent reference to his first
Encyclical, "Deus caritas est," which is due to be published on Wednesday,
January 25.

"The cosmic journey in which Dante, in his 'Divine Comedy,' wishes to involve
the reader," the Pope began, "ends before the eternal light that is God
Himself, before that Light which is, at the same time, 'the love that moves the
sun and the other stars'."

The God Who appears in Dante's central circle of light "has a human face and,
we may add, a human heart. Dante's vision shows the continuity between the
Christian faith in God and research based on reason; ... at the same time,
however, there appears a novelty that goes beyond all human research: ... the
novelty of a love that impelled God to assume a human face, to take on flesh
and blood. ... The 'eros' of God is not just a primordial cosmic force, it is
the love that created human beings and stretches reaches out towards them."

"The word 'love,' is so overused today," the Pope continued, "that one is
almost afraid to pronounce it. Yet, ... it is the expression of a primordial
reality, ... and we must retrieve it, ... so that it may illuminate our lives.
... This awareness is what induced me to choose love as the theme of my first
Encyclical. I wanted to try and express, for our own times and our own lives,
something of that which Dante encapsulated in his vision."

Faith should become "a vision-understanding that transforms us," said the Holy
Father. "I wanted to highlight the centrality of faith in God, in the God Who
assumed a human face and a human heart. ... In an age in which ... we are
witnessing the abuse of religion even unto the apotheosis of hatred, ... we
have need of the living God Who loved us even unto death. Thus, in this
Encyclical, the themes of God, Christ and Love are fused together as a central
guide to the Christian faith."

"A first reading of the Encyclical could perhaps give rise to the impression
that it is divided into two parts with little in common between them: a first
theoretical part discussing the essence of love, and a second part covering
ecclesial charity and charitable organizations. Yet I was interested precisely
in the unity between the two themes, only if seen as a single thing can they be
properly understood. ... On the basis of the Christian image of God, it was
necessary to show how man was created to love, and how this love, which
initially appears above all as 'eros' between man and woman, must then be
internally transformed into 'agape,' into the giving of self to others."

"On this basis, it was necessary to clarify how the essence of the love for God
and for others, ... is the core of Christian life, the fruit of faith." Then,
"in the second part, it was necessary to highlight that the totally personal
act of 'agape' can never remain a purely individual issue, rather it must also
become an essential act of the Church as community; in other words, it also
needs the institutional form that finds expression in the community activity of
the Church."

The Pope concluded: "The ecclesial organization of charity is not a form of
social assistance, a casual addition to the reality of the Church. ... Rather,
it is part of the nature of the Church, ... [and] must in some way make the
living God visible. ... The spectacle of suffering man touches our hearts. But
charitable commitment has a meaning that goes well beyond simple philanthropy.
It is God Himself Who encourages us from within our most intimate selves to
alleviate misery. ... It is He Himself Whom we carry into a suffering world.
The greater the awareness and clarity with which we bear Him as a gift, the
more effectively will our love change the world."
AC/ENCYCLICAL:LOVE/COR UNUM VIS 060123 (740)

SUMMARY

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