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Pope Benedict XVI- General Audiences |
General
Audience
On Leo the Great
"Defended Primacy of Rome and Knew Its Role in Maintaining Church Unity"
H.H. Benedict XVI
March 5, 2008
www.zenit.org
Leo the Great promoted the primacy of Rome because he knew its necessary
role in maintaining the unity of the Churches, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this today during the weekly general audience in Paul VI
Hall, in which he dedicated his reflection to the figure of St. Leo the
Great, whom Benedict XVI called "one of the greatest Pontiffs ever to
have graced the See of Rome."
"He is also the first pope of whom we have evidence of his preaching to
the people who crowded around him during celebrations," said the Holy
Father.
Benedict XVI continued: "It is natural to think of him in the context of
the general Wednesday audiences; an appointment that has become in the
last decades, a normal and expected way of meeting with the faithful and
with many other visitors from all over the world."
St. Leo the Great was elected Pope in the year 440. His pontificate
lasted more than two decades and included "difficult times" during which
"repeated barbarian invasions, the progressive weakening of imperial
power in the West and a lengthy social crisis forced the Bishop of Rome
[...]to assume a role in the civil and political happenings of the
time," said Benedict XVI.
For example, in 452, Leo the Great met with Attila the Hun in Mantua to
dissuade him from continuing the invasion that had devastated parts of
northern Italy. In 455 he similarly sought to dissuade the Geiseric
Vandals and, though he did not prevent them from invading and sacking
Rome, he did convince them not to raze the city and to respect the
basilicas of St. Peter's, St. John Lateran and St. Paul's Outside the
Walls, where part of the population had taken refuge.
Communion
In his numerous sermons and letters, St. Leo "appears in all his
greatness, at the service of the truth within charity, through an
indefatigable exercise of the word that reveals him both a theologian
and a shepherd. [...] Constantly aware of his believers and of the
people of Rome, but also of the communion between the various Churches
and their needs, was a supporter and an untiring promoter of the Roman
primacy."
The Holy Father explained how during
Leo's pontificate the Council of Chalcedon took place, "the most
important assembly ever to be celebrated in the history of the Church,"
which "affirmed the union in the one Person, without confusion and
without separation, of the two natures, human and divine".
"It is evident," Benedict XVI went on, "that the Pope felt the urgent
responsibility of Peter’s Successor, whose role is unique in the Church,
because 'only to one Apostle was entrusted what was communicated to all
the apostles.'"
The Pontiff said Leo the Great "managed to exercise such
responsibilities, in the West like in the East, by intervening in
various circumstances with prudence, determination and lucidity through
his texts and his bound manuscripts. In so doing he demonstrated the
importance of the Roman primacy then, as much as today, in order to
effectively serve the communion that is a feature of the one and only
Church of Christ
"Conscious of the historical significance of the times in which he was
living and of the change that was taking place -- in a time of deep
crisis -- from pagan to Christian Rome, through preaching and pastoral
care, Leo the Great was able to stay close to the people and the
faithful."
(c) Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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