Development of Doctrine and the Sacramental Principle according to John Henry Newman
First published in Spanish under the title “Desarrollo de [...]
Pope Benedict XVI: A Father and a Teacher
I would like to offer my testimony regarding Joseph Ratzinger / Pope Benedict XVI, drawing from my personal experience. “What can I do for you? What can I do for all of you?” were the words with which, on August 1, 2019, he welcomed me to the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. Thus began a series of personal meetings, seven to be precise, until January 2020, together with a correspondence that continued until his death.
An Evangelizing Pastoral Ministry and the Truth of Love
As Pope Francis points out, a true pastoral and missionary conversion is urgently needed. In order to offer an accurate assessment of the present situation of the Church’s pastoral ministry, and to offer an effective proposal for renewal, it is necessary to consider first of all the pastoral care of Christ, the Good Shepherd. We will take Jesus’ dialogue with the Samaritan woman as our inspiration. We hope to show that for the grace of Christ to illuminate and transform our hearts and societies, we need an evangelizing pastoral care rooted in the truth of love. What was Jesus’ pastoral approach when addressing the Samaritan woman? The Lord “addressed her desire for true love, in order to free her from the darkness in her life and to bring her to the full joy of the Gospel” (Amoris Laetitia, n. 294). In this key passage of St. John’s Gospel, the truth of love is presented as an indispensable element and the guiding thread of Jesus’ pastoral ministry.
The Veritas Amoris Project: The Reasons of a Proposal at the Service of the Church and Society
Very concisely, we would like to indicate two fundamental issues concerning the reasons inspiring the Veritas Amoris Project: the first point concerns the crisis situation in which we find ourselves; the second regards fruitful strategies that we deem necessary in this historical situation.