Pope at Audience: 'The Church is the mystery made perceptible'

"The Church is the mystery made perceptible," Pope Leo XIV expressed during his weekly Wednesday General Audience this morning, Ash Wednesday, in the Vatican, as he continued his catechesis series on the Second Vatican Council.

This week, he concentrated on the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, after having spent recent weeks reflecting on the Constitution Dei Verbum on Divine Revelation, which the Pope had called “one of the most beautiful and important” documents of the Council.

The Pope recalled how thus far the recent catecheses have reflected upon various aspects of Divine Revelation, noting that, in particular, we have seen how God chose to reveal Himself, making known the loving mystery of His divine plan to unite all people to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Indeed, the Pope said, it is only within this mystery that we can understand both the origin and the mission of the Church. 

When Vatican II wanted to describe the Church, Pope Leo recalled the Council was concerned first and foremost with explaining where its origins lie. "In order to do so, in the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, approved on 21 November 1964," he remembered, "it drew the term 'mystery' from the Letters of Saint Paul."

"By choosing this word, he did not mean to say that the Church is something obscure or incomprehensible, as is commonly thought when the word “mystery” is heard. It is exactly the opposite: indeed, when Saint Paul uses the word, especially in the Letter to the Ephesians," Pope Leo explained, "he wishes to indicate a reality that was previously hidden and is now revealed."

The Holy Father insisted that it refers to God’s plan, which has a purpose, namely "to unify all creatures thanks to the reconciliatory action of Jesus Christ, an action that was accomplished in his death on the cross."

The Pope said this is experienced first of all in the assembly gathered for the liturgical celebration. "There," he said, "differences are relativized, and what counts is being together because we are drawn by the Love of Christ, who broke down the wall of separation between people and social groups."