The Pope addressed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith this morning:

This morning, Benedict XVI received participants in the plenary assembly of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, telling them that in their service to the entire Church, and in particular to bishops, they must highlight "the centrality of the Catholic faith, in its authentic expression."

The Pope pointed out how "when the perception of this centrality diminishes, the fabric of ecclesial life also loses its original vivacity and is damaged, decaying into a form of sterile activism or deteriorating into mere worldly political cunning." Yet, if the truth of faith holds a central position in Christian life, human existence "is revived by a love that knows neither rest nor limit."

"Jesus Christ," the Holy Father went on, "is the Truth made Flesh, Who draws the world to Him. The light radiated by Christ is splendor of truth. All other truths are fragments of the Truth that He is and that leads back to Him. Jesus is the pole star of human freedom, and without Him [that freedom] loses direction, because without knowledge of the truth freedom is distorted and isolated, and is reduced to sterile will."

Benedict XVI highlighted the fact that Jesus Christ "attracts to Himself all men’s hearts, opening them and filling them with joy. In fact, only the truth is capable of occupying the mind and making it fully happy." This happiness, he went on, frees the soul from "the shackles of egoism, making it capable of authentic love."