In continuation with the present series on the early Church and the parallel postings from the catechesis on the origins of the Church given by Pope Benedict XVI, following is the audience from April 5, 2006:

BENEDICT XVI

GENERAL AUDIENCE

Wednesday, 5 April 2006

'Safeguarding the gift'

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In the new series of ( Read more... )

In these next two installments in the present examination of the nascent Church I am going to look at two related topics: apostolic succession and the liturgy of the early Christians, a liturgy that focused on the celebration of the Eucharist. In this first post I will look at apostolic succession and how it relates to the doctrine of the ( Read more... )

In conjunction with the series on the early Church, here is the second catechetical instruction from the Holy Father on the nascent Church, from March 22, 2006:

BENEDICT XVI

GENERAL AUDIENCE

Wednesday, 22 March 2006

'Witnesses of Christ'

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Letter to the Ephesians presents the Church to us as a structure ( Read more... )

In this present series on the early Church and the development of certain fundamental doctrines and practices I believe the first idea that we should examine is the issue of authority and apostolic teaching. There are certain issues and teachings that we see touched upon in the New Testament writings but whose interpretations are not immediately ( Read more... )

Based on various posts and comments I’ve seen lately in this and other Christian communities, I would like to offer the following observation for everyone’s consideration.

Many believers perceive scripture as the original source of Church doctrine.  But this simply cannot be the case.  The Church as described in the book of Acts did not have any ( Read more... )

As a supplement to our study of the early Fathers and the various issues of the Church, I am going to post a series of catechetical talks given by Pope Benedict XVI, a series titled Jesus, the Apostles, and the Early Church. These talks were given at the regular Wednesday audiences from March 15, 2006 to February 14, 2007. This first one is on ( Read more... )

One of the great challenges in ecumenical discussions is how to appropriately translate particular biblical texts. Some of the biggest issues affected by this problem of correct interpretation include: apostolic succession, celebration of the Eucharist, authority of ordained ministry, the nature of the Church, and the respective roles of ( Read more... )