As some 20,000 catechists are in Rome this weekend for their jubilee, Pope Leo held an extra jubilee audience this Saturday, September 27.
The Holy Father focused on the "sensus fidei," that intuition or "sixth sense" of the Christian people that allows the Church to move forward.
The Pope used an anecdote to illustrate the "sensus fidei," a principle that the Second Vatican Council emphasize at the heart of Church teaching, which holds that the whole community of the faithful, having the anointing that comes from the Holy One, cannot err in matters of faith.
"In the fourth century, in Milan, the Church was torn by great conflicts and the election of the new bishop turned into a real uproar," said Leo XIV. "The civil authority intervened, the governor Ambrose, who, with a great capacity for listening and mediation, brought peace. The story goes that then a child's voice rose up shouting, 'Ambrose bishop!' And so all the people also asked, 'Ambrose bishop!'"
The Holy Father noted how Ambrose was not yet even baptized, and was only preparing for baptism. After initially fleeing, Ambrose understood that this call from the people was in fact coming from God.
Thus, "the Church gained one of its greatest bishops and a doctor of the Church," praised Leo XIV, also mentioning that Ambrose played a major role in the conversion of Augustine, the Pope's own spiritual father as an Augustinian.
The Pope reflected that Ambrose "became a Christian by becoming a bishop."
Do you see what a great gift the little ones gave to the Church? Even today, this is a grace to ask for: to become Christians while living out the call we have received! Are you a mother, a father? Become a Christian as a mother and father. Are you an entrepreneur, a worker, a teacher, a priest, a religious? Become a Christian on your own path.
"God is simple and reveals himself to the simple," the Holy Father explained. "For this reason, there is an infallibility of the people of God in faith, of which the infallibility of the pope is an expression and service."
On Sunday at 10 a.m., the Pope will preside over a Mass for the Jubilee of Catechists in St. Peter's Square. During the celebration, he will institute 39 new catechists.
This "institution" is a new feature introduced by Pope Francis in 2021. In order to highlight the role of the laity in the Catholic Church, the Argentine pontiff decided to make catechist a non-ordained ministry.
