During the weekly catechesis on the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis reflected on how heresies forced the Church to deepen its faith.
SUMMARY OF THE POPE'S CATECHESIS IN SPANISH
Dear brothers and sisters:
Today we reflect on the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church.
In the first centuries of Christianity there was no need to explicitly formulate faith in the Holy Spirit. It was the emergence of heresies in the fourth century that prompted the Church to define its divinity. And even today we reaffirm that certainty - as proclaimed at the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople - when we say: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son receives the same worship and glory, and who spoke through the prophets”.
Following this article of the Creed, let us think about the expression “giver of life”. What life does the Holy Spirit give us? At the creation of the world, God gave life to Adam and made him a “living being”. Now, in the new creation, the Holy Spirit gives new life to all believers, life in Christ, which makes us children of God. This means that the Holy Spirit gives us eternal life, and that is the good news that gives meaning to our existence.
I cordially greet the Spanish-speaking pilgrims. Next Sunday we celebrate World Mission Sunday, and I will canonize fourteen Blesseds. I invite you to get to know these new saints and to ask for their intercession, since they are a clear testimony of the action of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. May Jesus bless them and may the Blessed Virgin watch over them. Thank you very much.
TR: JD
