Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Benedict XVI--Christians are always and everywhere members of one Body

Wednesday Audience

Vatican City, Jun 6, 2007 / 09:19 am (CNA).- Continuing his catechesis on the connection between Jesus and the Church, the Holy Father spoke today on St. Cyprian, "the first African bishop to achieve the crown of martyrdom." The Pope exhorted the 40,000 gathered and all the faithful to unity using the works of St. Cyprian.

Cyprian, said the Pope, "was born in Carthage to a rich pagan family" and "converted to Christianity at the age of 35. ... He became a priest and later a bishop. During his brief time as a bishop, he had to face the first two persecutions authorized by imperial edict, that of Decius (250) and that of Valerian (257-258)," following which many faithful "renounced their faith, or at least failed to comport themselves correctly when under trial. These were the so-called 'lapsi,' that is, the 'lapsed'."

Cyprian was "severe but not inflexible towards the 'lapsi,' giving them the chance of forgiveness after an exemplary penance." The saint also "showed great humanity and was pervaded by the most authentic evangelical spirit in exhorting Christians to offer fraternal help to pagans during the plague." But he was "irremovable in combating the corruption and sins that devastated the moral life, especially that of avarice."

St. Cyprian was concerned more with pastoral issues than with profound theological insights. “He wrote above all for the edification of the community and to encourage the faithful to good behavior.”
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