Called together to make up a "visible Sacrament"

3. The newness of the People of God in its two-fold aspect, of a visible social organism and an invisible divine presence intimately united, is similar to the very mystery of Christ. In fact, "as the assumed nature, inseparably united to Him, serves the divine Word as a living organ of salvation, so, in a somewhat similar way, does the social structure of the Church serve the Spirit of Christ who vivifies it, in the building up of the body" (LG 8; cf. Eph 4:16). The intimate reciprocal connection of the two elements, therefore, confers upon the Church her special sacramental nature, by virtue of which she completely transcends the limits of any simply sociological perspective. The Council, in fact, was able to assert that the People of God is for all men "the visible sacrament of this saving unity" (LG 9; cf. LG 1; 8; 48; GS 42; AG 1; 5).

The present social evolutions and cultural changes, which we ourselves are witnessing, even though they evoke in the Church the need to renew not a few perhaps of her human aspects, are nevertheless unable to deface in the least her specific structure as universal sacrament of salvation. On the contrary, these very changes, which are to be promoted, will serve at the same time to place her nature in ever greater evidence.