Contemporary papacy cannot be understood without the journeys of popes who value the universality of the Church, its catholicity and the companionship of life that is part of the exercise of the ministry of Peter, who presides over Christian communities with love. … It has been rightly emphasized that the goal of this first apostolic journey of Leo XIV is interreligious encounter and ecumenical action, the common faith of believers in one God who cultivates peace and justice in the world.
But this faith, whose content is expressed as a proposition of meaning, would not be possible without history, even though faith is not only history. As the Pope said last Friday at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul, “the history that precedes us must not simply be remembered and then consigned to the glorious past, while we watch with resignation as the Catholic Church is numerically reduced.” The Pope’s reason for traveling to Türkiye and Lebanon is the 1,700th anniversary of the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, “the foundation on the path of the Church and all of humanity,” Pope Francis wrote. To speak of Nicaea involves referring, as Leo XIV said, to “the essence of the Christian faith about the centrality of Christ and the tradition of the Church.”
Reconsider the essence of Christianity, being a Christian, and what the consequences are for people’s lives. Existence before action; Identity that fertilizes diversity. It would not have been possible to understand Nicea without the trial of Arius, which was due to true faith. Nicea would not be understood without defenders of the faith. Years later Athanasius wrote: “I learned that you were sad not only because of your exile, but above all because of the fact that others, the Arians, had violently seized control of the temples and in the meantime you had been expelled from those places. So they own the temples. But you are a tradition of the apostolic faith. Nicaea would not have been possible without Emperor Constantine.
The session limit has been reached
- Access to premium content is open courtesy of the organization you’re in, but at the moment there are too many users logged in at any one time. Please try again after a few minutes.
Try again
You have exceeded the session limit
- You can start only three sessions at a time. We’ve closed the oldest session so you can continue browsing the rest without limits.
Keep browsing
Article for subscribers only
Report an error