Vatican City, Jun 12, 2019 / 03:15 am
An essential characteristic of Christian community is its unity in diversity, and the freedom this gives to Christians to come alive as witnesses of Christ, Pope Francis said Wednesday.
The selection of Matthias to take Judas' place among the Twelve Apostles, as told at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, is the "reunification of the apostolic college," the pope said June 12.
This moment "shows how in the DNA of the Christian community there is unity and freedom from oneself, which make it possible not to fear diversity, not to attach oneself to things and gifts and to become martyrs, that is, luminous witnesses of God alive and active in history," he said.
"We too," Francis urged, "need to rediscover the beauty of witnessing to the Risen, emerging from self-referential attitudes, renouncing the withholding of the gifts of God and not yielding to mediocrity."