The Future Course of the Church
When a Pontificate lasts for many years, it is natural to think about what will happen when it ends. Catholics look to the future of the Church. What, then, is appropriate for the time to come?
The Church lives by Tradition, she must always return to it, especially when she has been indifferent to it or has distanced herself from it, fascinated by the worldly agenda. Tradition is not a mere repetition of the same thing, but a living reality that grows and develops. Many centuries ago, St. Vincent de Lerins enunciated his law: “In eodem scilicet dogmate, eodem sensu, eademque sententia”: that is, a development in which Tradition remains always identical, but always new. This is its richness. The Church of the coming years must return to the richness of Tradition. In many countries, the young have understood this, while their elders remain attached to passing novelties. This fact, which can be statistically proven, is paradoxical.
I would like to point out a second element that should be part of the Church's program in the coming years: to give new validation to the apostolic mandate that the Twelve received from Jesus and transmitted to posterity; to make all peoples and all times believe in the Gospel. The exercise of this mandate implies making known the Person and work of Christ. The Church, in spite of its centuries of development, continues to be a “small flock” in the vast world; the Mission is essential in her life. It is especially necessary to strengthen the enclaves that have already been installed in pagan regions or where ancient religions subsist.
Another element with which the life of the Church spontaneously spreads is the dialogue between Faith and culture, which has as its goal the creation of a Christian culture. Church history testifies that, throughout the centuries, there were times when Christian culture was a reality; the works of those periods remain as evidence of it, and at the same time constitute examples for the future. It is not a question of copying these models; in every age, worldly reality offers a new opportunity that the reality of the Faith takes advantage of. It is the perennial realization of the Faith-culture dialogue.
The path of the Church points towards Heaven. This is the purpose of the creation of the ecclesial reality, which arose at Pentecost with Peter's speech. How does the figure of the first among the Twelve continue in the papal Pontificate? Peter arrived in Rome and ended his days there. When you go to Rome, they show you Peter's tomb. It cannot be denied. History corroborates it. But the Church preaches the End, which is the consummation of the Kingdom, of which she is a humble foretaste.
The Church's preaching to the faithful must show them Heaven as the goal of each life. It will also explain that Heaven is the vision of the Triune God “face to face.” The Apostle John wrote: “When we see him, we shall be like him” (1 Jn 3:2).
