Apostolic
Letter
given “Motu
Proprio”
INTIMA ECCLESIAE
NATURA
On the Service
of Charity
__________________
Introduction
Apostolic
Letter
given “Motu
Proprio”
INTIMA ECCLESIAE
NATURA
On the Service
of Charity
__________________
Introduction
“The Church’s
deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility: of proclaiming
the word of God (kerygma-martyria), celebrating the sacraments
(leitourgia) and exercising the ministry of charity (diakonia).
These duties presuppose each other and are inseparable” (Deus Caritas
Est, 25).
The service of
charity is also a constitutive element of the Church’s mission and an
indispensable expression of her very being (cf. ibid.); all the faithful
have the right and duty to devote themselves personally to living the new
commandment that Christ left us (cf. Jn 15:12), and to offering our
contemporaries not only material assistance, but also refreshment and care for
their souls (cf. Deus Caritas Est, 28). The Church is also called as a
whole to the exercise of the diakonia of charity, whether in the small
communities of particular Churches or on the level of the universal Church. This
requires organization “if it is to be an ordered service to the community”
(cf. ibid., 20), an organization which entails a variety of institutional
expressions.
With regard to
this diakonia of charity, in my Encyclical Deus Caritas EstI
pointed out that “in conformity with the episcopal structure of the Church, the
Bishops, as successors of the Apostles, are charged with primary responsibility
for carrying out in the particular Churches” the service of charity (No. 32); at
the same time, however, I noted that “theCode of Canon Law, in the canons
on the ministry of the Bishop, does not expressly mention charity as a specific
sector of episcopal activity” (ibid.). Although “the Directory for the
Pastoral Ministry of Bishops explored more specifically the duty of charity
as a responsibility incumbent upon the whole Church and upon each Bishop in his
Diocese” (ibid.), there was still a need to fill the aforementioned
lacuna and to give adequate expression in canonical legislation to both the
essential nature of the service of charity in the Church and its constitutive
relationship with the episcopal ministry, while outlining the legal aspects of
this ecclesial service, especially when carried out in an organized way and with
the explicit support of the Bishops.
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