During the Angelus on Sunday, January 24, 2010, Pope Benedict addressed the faithful from his study window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, and reflected on the various charisms in the Church. Before the Marian prayer, he quoted an excerpt of the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, from Sunday’s liturgy, in which the Apostle compares the Church to the human body.

“The Church,” the Holy Father explained, “is conceived like a body of which Christ is the Head, and it forms a united whole with Him. “However,” he added, “what the Apostle is seeking to communicate is the idea of unity in the multiplicity of charisms, which are gifts of the Holy Spirit. Thanks to these charisms the Church is a rich and living non-uniform organism, fruit of the one Spirit Who leads everyone to profound unity, absorbing diversities without eradicating them and creating a harmonious whole.” The Church, explained the Holy Father, “prolongs the presence of the risen Lord over history, especially through the Sacraments, the Word of God, the charisms and pastoral ministry in the community. Therefore, it is precisely in Christ and in the Spirit that the Church is one and holy; in other words, an intimate communion which transcends human capacities and supports them.”

Benedict XVI then turned to the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which ends Monday, Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, when the Pope will preside at Vespers in the basilica of St. Paul’s Outside-the-Walls, with representatives of other Churches and Christian communities present in Rome. “We will,” said the Pope, “invoke from God the gift of the full unity of all Christ’s disciples” because “the communion of Christians … makes the announcement of the Gospel more credible and effective.”
He closed with words about St. Francis of Sales, patron of journalists, whose feast day was Sunday. St. Francis, he said, taught that “the call to sanctity is addressed to everyone, and that each has his or her place in the Church.”
(Source: Joan’s Rome; January 25, 2010)