Catechesis of Benedict XVI during the General Audience wherein He presented the Figure of St. Paul of Tarsus (IV)

“To Find the Church Is to Find Christ”

The Pope comments on St. Paul's Teachings

VATICAN CITY, NOV. 22, 2006 (ZENIT.org).

		St. Paul

Those who find the Church, also find Christ, says Benedict XVI.

Speaking today during the weekly general audience, the Pope dedicated a fourth meditation to the figure of St. Paul of Tarsus, which he said will be the last in the present series of commentaries on the Apostle.

The Pontiff focused his commentary on the teachings of St. Paul on the Church.

Vatican Radio reported that some 50,000 braved torrential rains to hear the Holy Father in St. Peter's Square, more than double the number expected.

Benedict XVI said that Paul "found the Church before finding Jesus." However, "in his case, this contact was counterproductive; it did not cause adherence but rather a violent rejection."

The Pope said that the Apostle discovered the Church thanks to "a direct intervention of Christ, who, revealing himself to Paul on the way to Damascus, identified himself with the Church and made Paul understand that to persecute the Church was to persecute him, the Lord."

"Paul converted then, at the same time, to Christ and to the Church," said the Holy Father.

The Pontiff pointed out that it was St. Paul who called the Church the "body of Christ," a definition "which we do not find in other Christian authors of the first century."

"We find the most profound root of this amazing designation of the Church in the sacrament of the body of Christ," Benedict XVI said, clarifying that "in the Eucharist itself Christ gives us his body and makes us his body."

		St. Paul preaches

The Pope said that "not only is there a belonging of the Church to Christ, but also a certain form of equivalence and identification of the Church with Christ himself."

The Holy Father continued: "It is from here, therefore, that the greatness and nobility of the Church derives, that is, of all of us who are part of it: Our being members of Christ is almost as an extension of his personal presence in the world.

"And from here follows, naturally, our duty to really live in conformity with Christ."

That Pontiff added that for this reason Paul "goes so far as to present the Church as the bride of Christ," taking up an ancient "prophetic metaphor, which made of the people of Israel the spouse of God of the Covenant."

Benedict XVI said that Paul "expresses to what point the relations are intimate between Christ and his Church, be it because she is the object of the most tender love on the part of her Lord, or because love must be mutual and we, in as much as members of the Church, must show him a passionate fidelity."

The Pope added: "This is our definition: We are part of those who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

(Text courtesy of Zenit)

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