Renewed Profession of Faith

23. In other words, Venerable Brethren, We are exhorting everyone-you and all those entrusted to your care, and the community of the faithful as a whole, that is, the Church-to make a conscious, generous, whole-hearted act of faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. Our religious life must here and now be revitalized by this profession of faith. It must be a firm and resolute one, though always humble and diffident, like the faith of the man in St. John's Gospel who had been blind from birth. When Jesus, whose kindness was as wonderful as His power, restored to him his sight, the man replied: "I believe, Lord.'' ¹⁰ Or like the faith of Martha in the same Gospel: "Yes, Lord, I have believed that thou art Christ, the Son of the living God, who art come into the world.'' ¹¹ Or the faith which Simon, who was afterwards to be called Peter, expressed in words which are especially dear to Us: "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.'' ¹²

Why, then, do We presume to invite you to show your awareness of the Church and to make this explicit, though interior, act of faith?

24. There are indeed many reasons, and of necessity, it would seem, they all derive from the unparalleled circumstances in which the Church finds itself today.