Pope says unity with pope guarantees faith is the one taught by Jesus

Published: 2007-03-28

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The teaching of the bishops and unity with the pope guarantee that one's faith truly is the faith taught by Jesus to his apostles, Pope Benedict XVI said. "The true Gospel is that imparted by the bishops, who have received it in an uninterrupted chain from the apostles," the pope said March 28 at his weekly general audience. The pope's audience talk focused on the ministry and writings of St. Irenaeus of Lyon, who died in the very first years of the third century. "Irenaeus is most of all a man of faith and a pastor," the pope said. "As a writer he had a double aim: to defend true doctrine against the attacks of the heretics and to explain the truths of the faith with clarity." The main targets of his admonitions were the gnostics, who taught a secret, "often strange and extravagant" version of Christianity, which only the most intellectually advanced could understand, he said.

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