Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Catholic News

Home

Home
Catholic
Religion News
Light of faith will illuminate the world, encyclical teaches

Light of faith will illuminate the world, encyclical teaches

Last updated on: July 6, 2013 at 2:28 pm by CNA Daily News

Light of faith will illuminate the world, encyclical teaches 2013-07-06T14:28:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Vatican City, Jul 6, 2013 / 08:28 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The theme of light is pivotal in the first Church encyclical written by “four hands.”

“Lumen Fidei,” or “The Light of Faith,” is the first encyclical issued by Pope Francis. Released July 5, it draws on work drafted by former Pope Benedict XVI before his resignation.

The document reveals the continuity between the previous Pope and the current one. Why is light so important for both Pontiffs?

Benedict XVI’s pontificate was wholly aimed at showing that we cannot be content with the smaller lights of reason, and that we should reasonably reach for the bigger light of faith.

Pope Francis’ pontificate is intended to carry that light of the faith to the peripheries of the world.

At a general audience on June 12, Pope Francis said that “if in a stadium – say the Olympic stadium in Rome or the San Lorenzo in Buenos Aires – on a dark night, if someone turns on a light, you can barely see it, but if the other 70,000 spectators turn on their own light, the whole stadium shines.”

Turning on their own light means, in fact, re-turning to God. This was a main goal of Benedict XVI’s pontificate.

One of the roots of this goal came in Joseph Ratzinger’s 1994 visit to Specola Vaticana, the Vatican Observatory, which is an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the Holy See and held by Jesuits.

For centuries, Jesuit Fathers went up to the telescope in the observatory in Castel Gandolfo, and from that privileged point of view they looked at the sky, trying to catch a sense of the heavens.

Now, the Vatican Observatory in Castelgandolfo is a museum. Although its tools and instruments still work, the lights of Rome – and all of Europe – are so bright that it is practically impossible to observe the stars. As a result, a new observatory was built in Mount Graham, Arizona.

Joseph Ratzinger – who would become Benedict XVI – was so impressed by the Specola Vaticana that he spoke about it in his homily during the 1994 Christmas Eve Mass in Berchtesgaden.

In that homily, he compares the observation of the sky to the search for God, as a type of metaphor.

And he concludes that “the lights of men, the lights we produced, hide the light of sky. Our lights hide the stars of God. It is almost a metaphor: because of the too many things we created, we can barely recognize the traces of the Creation of God, and the Creation itself.”

This is a crucial point in the first of Pope Francis’ encyclicals, based on a sketch by Benedict XVI.

“There is an urgent need, then,” Pope Francis writes in the document, “to see once again that faith is a light, for once the flame of faith dies out, all other lights begin to dim. The light of faith is unique, since it is capable of illu¬minating every aspect of human existence. A light this powerful cannot come from ourselves but from a more primordial source.”

That source is Jesus Christ, because “since Christ has risen and draws us beyond death, faith is also a light coming from the future and opening before us vast horizons which guide us beyond our isolated selves towards the breadth of communion.”

Taking over the former Pope’s encyclical and his words, Pope Francis carried forward Benedict XVI’s ambitious program of returning the Church to God.

How will this be done in a Church that suffers from the gangrene of careerism and is perhaps excessively deferential to the media? How will it be carried out without trivializing solemn occasions and liturgies?

Following the example of Saint Benedict in his cloister, Benedict XVI aimed at a new civilization, using his speeches as the building blocks of a cathedral, moving attention away from gestures and actions and focusing instead on a deeper thought and theology.

Now that the doctrinal cathedral has been built up, Pope Francis can show the light of faith to the world from the loggia of the cathedral.

In the June 12 general audience, Pope Francis said, “Let our lives together be the one light of Christ; together we will carry the light of the Gospel to the whole of reality.”

This is Pope Francis’ ambitious program that draws from that of Benedict: to proclaim the light of faith, and to let it illuminate the world.

The encyclical can be accessed in CNA’s resource section, found here.

Vatican

Previous Post

July 5, 2013

In encyclical, Pope says 'light of faith' must transform lives

Next Post

July 6, 2013 DOMA decision cited to block Michigan law

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What physical affliction did Job suffer?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Painful boils Blindness Leprosy Broken bones