Homily of Benedict XVI, Holy Mass for the Opening of the Year of Faith

“The Year of Faith which we launch today is linked harmoniously with the Church’s whole path over the last fifty years: from the Council, through the Magisterium of the Servant of God Paul VI, who proclaimed a Year of Faith in 1967, up to the Great Jubilee of the year 2000, with which Blessed John Paul II II re-proposed to all humanity Jesus Christ as the one Savior, yesterday, today and forever. Between these two Popes, Paul VI and John Paul II, there was a deep and complete convergence, precisely upon Christ as the centre of the cosmos and of history, and upon the apostolic eagerness to announce him to the world. Jesus is the centre of the Christian faith. The Christian believes in God whose face was revealed by Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment of the Scriptures and their definitive interpreter. Jesus Christ is not only the object of the faith but, as it says in the Letter to the Hebrews, he is ‘the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith’ (12:2).”

In his homily at the Holy Mass for the opening of the Year of Faith, Pope Benedict XVI focused on the reasons for this observance and for the great need for the faith to continue to be lived in the present day, that it might be, ever more deeply, a living faith in a world of change.

To access Pope Benedict’s complete homily, please visit:

Homily of Benedict XVI, Holy Mass for the opening of the Year of Faith, 11 October 2012