The Church, sacrament of communion

33. “Faced with a divided world which is in search of unity, we must proclaim with joy and firm faith that God is communion, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, unity in distinction, and that he calls all people to share in that same Trinitarian communion. We must proclaim that this communion is the magnificent plan of God the Father; that Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Lord, is the heart of this communion, and that the Holy Spirit works ceaselessly to create communion and to restore it when it is broken. We must proclaim that the Church is the sign and instrument of the communion willed by God, begun in time and destined for completion in the fullness of the Kingdom”.( ⁹⁷) The Church is the sign of communion because her members, like branches, share the life of Christ, the true vine (cf. Jn 15:5). Through communion with Christ, Head of the Mystical Body, we enter into living communion with all believers.

This communion, present in the Church and essential to her nature,( ⁹⁸) must be made visible in concrete signs, “such as communal prayer for one another, the desire for closer relations between Episcopal Conferences and between Bishops, fraternal ties between dioceses and parishes, and communication among pastoral workers with a view to specific missionary works”.( ⁹⁹) Communion requires that the deposit of faith be preserved in its purity and integrity, together with the unity of the College of Bishops under the authority of the Successor of Peter. In this context, the Synod Fathers stressed that “the strengthening of the Petrine ministry is fundamental for the preservation of the Church's unity”, and that “the full exercise of the primacy of Peter is fundamental for the Church's identity and vitality in America”. (¹⁰⁰) By the Lord's mandate, Peter and his Successors have the task of confirming their brethren in faith (cf. Lk 22:32) and of feeding the entire flock of Christ (cf. Jn 21:15-17). The Successor of the Prince of the Apostles is called to be the rock upon which the Church is built, and to exercise the ministry belonging to the one to whom the keys of the Kingdom were given (cf. Mt 16:18-19). The Vicar of Christ is in fact “the enduring principle of unity and the visible foundation” of the Church. (¹⁰¹)