What kind of trust in the Church? A theological reflection

Abstract

What does it mean to trust in the Church? The Church is a unique subject, whose identity and mission must be understood in order to determine which form of trust in her is the most appropriate. Understanding the Church as the mystery of the presence of God, who humbles himself to accompany human beings in human reality and history allows us to recognize that she can only present herself as a paradoxical phenomenon, characterized by tensions, the most serious of which is that between holiness and sin. This essay outlines the identity of the Church as a mystery and a paradox, and refers in particular to the thought of Henri de Lubac as support. A keener awareness of the paradoxical nature of the Church, which emerged in the twentieth century, led to significant gestures such as the request for forgiveness made by John Paul II in the Jubilee at the start of the new millennium. Evil in the Church provokes scandal and inevitably leads to a loss of trust. Paradoxically, however, a faith based on God and his promise can subsist, and it allows us to make sense of evil itself, without justifying it. It becomes an occasion for a greater revelation of God’s mercy on the Church herself, and on the world.