Folia Theologica et Canonica 11. 33/25 (2022)

Sacra theologia

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MIHÁLY KRÁNITZ

munity of believers that loves and adores the Lord Jesus and opens its sails to the breath of the Holy Spirit, therefore this community is able to evangelize and be close to people”.13 Pope Benedict says to almost all Christians: “No one is master, we are all invited, we are all sent, we are all gathered and led by the grace of God.”14 In the church, we are true ambassadors of Christ and servants of the gospel. The Church is a gift - Pope Benedict XVI confesses - and we are all called to be happy and to be filled with joy in belonging to the Church. Every baptized person - the head of the church emphasizes the ecumenical idea - must discover the joy of belonging to this Church.

For Benedict XVI, our commitment to Christian unity can have no other basis than our faith in Christ, in that Christ who died, rose again and sits at the right hand of the Father, who will return in glory to judge the living and the dead. This is the reality of the person of Christ, his saving work and especially the historical fact of his resurrection, which is the content of the apostolic creed and the formulation of the faith that ensured the integrity of its transmission from the New Testament. In a word, the unity of the church cannot be other than unity in the apostolic faith.15

V. The ecumenical realism of Pope Benedict XVI

Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, embodied the presentation and defense of the Catholic faith. This manifested itself in the behavior of guarding and caring, precisely in the world that turned away from God, religion and the church. In his first report book as Cardinal, he expresses his commitment to the issue of ecumenism - in agreement with the Magisterium of John Paul II: Contact with the Christian church involves getting to know each other’s thinking and theology. In his view, “the ecumenical endeavor is an integral part of the development of our faith at this stage of church history.” Here, the theologian cardinal makes it obvious that the beliefs of other Christian churches have an enriching effect on Catholic thinking as well. At the same time, he states that he continues to be on guard, he acts in his “critical task”, because he is convinced that otherwise “ambiguity, impatience and superficiality in the field of ecumenism will take us away from our goal rather than bring us closer to it”. The leader of the congregation once again states that he is convinced that “a clear definition of the faith of each of us will help us and our interlocutors as well.” As a theologian of the unity of the

13 Mancini, M., Benedetto XVI. Un papa totale, 23.

14 Mancini, M., Benedetto XVI. Un papa totale, 23-24.

15 Bocciolesi, S.,L’unita attraverso la diversity la prospettiva ecumenica di Joseph Ratzinger / Benedetto XV, Siena 2020. 142. Cf. Introvigne, M., Tu sei Pietro. Benedetto XVI contro la dittatura del relativismo, Milano 2011. 265.