Benedict in full, free flight

This morning Pope Benedict delivered the first in a new series of Wednesday Audience instructions. Up until now his Wednesday talks have followed a program inherited from Pope John Paul, but now Benedict is doing his own thing. He has chosen as his topic the relationship between Christ and the Church. This morning there was a very clear affirmation of the historicity of the call of the twelve Apostles. The concluding words:

"The twelve Apostles are thus the clearest sign of the will of Jesus with regard to the existence and the mission of his Church, the guarantee that between Christ and the Church there is no opposition. Therefore a slogan such as 'Jesus, yes; Church, no' (fashionable some years ago) is completely irreconcilable with the intention of Christ. There is a profound, indissoluble, and mysterious continuity between the Son of God made flesh and his Church; by virtue of which Christ is present today in his people, and in particular in those who are the successors of the Apostles."