Vatican City, Feb 9, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Earlier today, Pope Benedict XVI met with members of the Holy See’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who are currently meeting in their plenary assembly. He encouraged the group to teach and safeguard the entirety of the Catholic faith, saying that love of the truth of Christ is central to real human existence.
Pope Benedict himself, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, headed the Vatican’s teaching and faith-safeguarding office from 1981 until his election as Pope last year.
The Holy Father began his address by encouraging the group to teach “the centrality of the Catholic faith, in its authentic expression,” particularly in their service to individual bishops and the greater world Church.
He highlighted that "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."