Benedict XVI Interview: The Christian Faith is Not an Idea but a Life

By Anonymous

From "Letter #16, 2016: Emeritus Pope Benedict Grants an Interview" Inside the Vatican
The Christian Faith Is Not An Idea But A Life

(Full text of a recent interview with Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI)

 From the Osservatore Romano, March 17, 2016

 We publish here the full text of the interview with Benedict XVI in the book Through Faith: Doctrine of Justification and Experience of God in the Preaching of the Church and the Spiritual Exercises by Jesuit Fr. Daniel Libanori (Cinisello Balsamo, Edizioni San Paolo, 2016, 208 pages, € 20) in which the retired Pope speaks of the centrality of compassion in the Christian faith.

The volume contains the proceedings of a conference that took place last October in Rome.

As noted by Filippo Rizzi of Avvenire on March 16, who published excerpts from the interview, the conductor of the interview (whose name does not appear in the book) was the Jesuit Jacques Servais, a student of Hans Urs von Balthasar and scholar of his works.

 *****

 Fr. Jacques Servais, S.J.: Your Holiness, the question posed this year as part of the study days promoted by the rectory of the Gesu (the residence for Jesuit seminarians in Rome) is that of justification by faith. The last volume of your collected works highlights your resolute affirmation: "The Christian faith is not an idea, but a life." Commenting on the famous Pauline affirmation in Romans 3:28, you mentioned, in this regard, a twofold transcendence: "Faith is a gift to the believers communicated through the community, which for its part is the result of God's gift" ("Glaube ist Gabe durch die Gemeinschaft; die sich selbst gegeben wird ', gs iv, 512). Could you explain what you meant by that statement, taking into account of course the fact that the aim of these days of study is to clarify the pastoral theology and vivify the spiritual experience of the faithful?

 Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI: The question concerns what faith is and how one comes to believe. [Full text]

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