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General Audience of 26 November 2008: Saint Paul (14). The Doctrine of Justification: The Apostle's Teaching on Faith and Works
Pope Benedict XVI
General Audience of 26 November 2008: Saint Paul (14). The Doctrine of Justification: The Apostle's Teaching on Faith and Works
Pope Benedict XVI
2008-11-26
Magisterial
Document summary
Benedict XVI welcomes Catholicos Aram I to the Vatican and recalls the shared history of faith and martyrdom between the Catholic and Armenian Churches, praying that ecumenical dialogue may advance full Christian unity. He then presents Paul's teaching on justification: human beings do not earn salvation by their own deeds but are made just through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is a living communion rather than mere intellectual assent, and therefore expresses itself in charity and the fruits of the Spirit. Works cannot establish salvation independently, but true faith necessarily becomes active in love through the Spirit.
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Document details
- Document name
- General Audience of 26 November 2008: Saint Paul (14). The Doctrine of Justification: The Apostle's Teaching on Faith and Works
- Citation title
- General Audience
- Author
- Pope Benedict XVI
- Language
- English
- Year
- 2008-11-26
- Publisher
- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
- Publisher Location
- Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City
- Document Category
- Address
- Corpus classification
- Magisterial
- License
- Public domain