First of all, the reality of St. Joseph and the communion of saints (2-II-2022). "The Communion of Saints is precisely the Church." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 946). He does not mean that the saints receive communion, the Pope said jokingly, evoking an answer he gave when he was a child. The saints who are in heaven are our intercessors before God, our patrons. (because maybe we carry his name) or brothers and sisters to whom we can have devotion and treat with confidence. Moreover, the communion of saints is also the Church on pilgrimage on earth, which is composed of the just and sinners.
At this point, the Pope pointed out what he called a beautiful definition of the Church: "The Church is the community of saved sinners". And he added: "No one can be excluded from the Church, we are all saved sinners". On the one hand, all Christians form (spiritually) one body with Christ. (cf. 1 Cor 12 12; 26-27).We are in communion with Him through faith and baptism. And that is the communion of saints.
From this he drew three consequences: first, solidarity for both good and evil: "I cannot be indifferent to others, because we are all part of one body, in communion. In this sense, even the sin of a single person always affects everyone, and the love of each person affects everyone".
Second: Christians "are bound to one another and in a profound way, and this bond is so strong that not even death can break it," so that the communion of saints also includes the deceased [who are in purgatory].
Third: the communion of saints includes also, while on earth, sinners including "those who have denied the faith, who are apostates, who are persecutors of the Church, who have denied their baptism, (...) blasphemers, all of them". We are all brothers through baptism, with a bond that nothing and no one can destroy on earth.
Indeed, as the Second Vatican Council points out (cf. Lumen Gentium, nn. 14 and 15), sinners, if they are baptized, "belong" to the communion of saints, which is the Church, in an imperfect or incomplete way. And if they are not baptized, they are "ordained" to the mystery of the Church, and in some way are related to her insofar as they seek the truth and live coherently in charity.
The penultimate catechesis was about St. Joseph, Patron of the Good Death (DEC 9-II-2022). In connection with the above and with the death of St. Joseph (foreseeably assisted by the Virgin Mary and Jesus in Nazareth), Francis evoked the help that we Christians traditionally ask St. Joseph for at the moment of death (cf. Benedict XV, Motu proprio Bonum sane, 25-VII-1920).
At this point in his catechesis, Francis referred to the letter of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who, on the verge of his 95th birthday, testified to his awareness of the reality of death: "I stand before the darkness of death, at the dark door of death". And Francis pointed out: "He has given us good advice! The so-called 'wellness' culture tries to eliminate the reality of death, but the coronavirus pandemic has once again dramatically highlighted it".
While recalling the drama of the pandemic, he insisted that "the Christian faith is not a way of exorcising the fear of death, but helps us to face it"; it illuminates this mystery with the light that comes from the resurrection of Christ (cf. 1 Cor 15:12-14).
It helps us to give it a positive meaning, also for this life, to see it with new eyes (not to accumulate material goods but attitudes and works of charity); it urges us to care for the sick, not to "discard" the elderly, so that they can die in peace, in the most humane way possible, today they provoke death (euthanasia) or help suicide. "Life is a right, not death, which must be welcomed, not supplied". And "the beginning of life and the end is always a mystery, a mystery to be respected, accompanied, cared for, loved".
Finally, the catecheses on St. Joseph concluded with a reflection on St. Joseph, patron saint of the universal Church (DEC 16, 2022). Francis returned to the fundamental mission of St. Joseph, to protect and care for Jesus and Mary, who are "the most precious treasure of our faith" (Pius IX, 1871).
"In the plan of salvation - the Pope points out, with the Christian tradition - the Son cannot be separated from the Mother", from the one who advanced "in the pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully maintained her union with the Son until the cross". (Lumen gentium, 58), as the Second Vatican Council reminds us.
He adds that "Jesus, Mary and Joseph are in a sense the primordial nucleus of the Church." We too, as he writes in Patris corde, 5: "must always ask ourselves whether we are protecting with all our strength Jesus and Mary, who are mysteriously entrusted to our responsibility, our care, our custody" In what sense? Inasmuch as as Christians we have the task of guarding and defending the life, the heart and the work of men and women, and also the Church: "To be a Christian is not only to receive the faith, to confess the faith, but to protect life, one's own life, the life of others, the life of the Church."
Therefore, "every person who is hungry and thirsty, every foreigner, every migrant, every person without clothes, every sick person, every prisoner is the 'Child' that Joseph guards.". And we must also learn from Joseph to "guard" these goods. (who come to us with the Church)To love the Child and his mother; to love the Sacraments and the people of God; loving the poor and our parish". (cf. Patris corde, 5).
"Today it's common, it's an everyday thing, criticize the Churchto point out the inconsistencies -there are many of them-, to emphasize the sins, which in reality are our inconsistencies, our sins, because the Church has always is a people of sinners who find God's mercy".
"Let us ask ourselves," Francis invites us, "if, deep in our hearts, we love the Church as she is: the People of God on a journey, with many limitations, but with a great desire to serve and love God.
"In fact," he observes, "only love makes us capable of speaking the truth fully, impartially; of saying what is wrong, but also of recognizing all the good and holiness that are present in the Church, starting precisely from Jesus and Mary. To love the Church, to guard the Church and to walk with the Church".
"But - he does not fail to warn - the Church is not that little group that is close to the priest and commands everyone, no. The Church is all of us, everyone. The Church is all of us, all of us. On the way. Guard each other, protect each other. It is a beautiful question, this: when I have a problem with someone, do I try to protect him or do I condemn him immediately, speak ill of him, destroy him?" And Francis concludes by asking the intercession of St. Joseph for everyone.
Mr. Ramiro Pellitero Iglesias
Professor of Pastoral Theology at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarra.
Published in "Church and new evangelization".
