Vatican City, Jan 13, 2010 / 13:22 pm
In today's Wednesday audience, Pope Benedict XVI spoke on the mendicant orders of the Middle Ages and explained how they were able to bring about the renewal of the Church and society.
"The saints," said the Pope, "guided by the light of God, are the true reformers of the life of the Church and society. Teachers by their words and witnesses by their example, they are able to promote stable and profound ecclesial renewal."
Holding up the Franciscans and Dominicans as prime examples, the Holy Father spoke of the lively debates which would take place in the universities, noting that the friars did not hesitate “to enter the universities themselves, as students and teachers, erecting study centers of their own and profoundly influencing the development of thought.”
The Pope said that these orders imparted to those around them “an 'intellectual charity,' that must be brought into play in order to illuminate minds and associate faith with culture.”