God frees his faithful servants from every evil and frees the Church from negative powers:

VATICAN - 

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “God is close to his faithful servants and frees them from all evil, and frees the Church from negative powers.” This was the theme of the biblical texts proclaimed on the Solemnity of the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul, June 29, according to the Holy Father Benedict XVI, who presided the Mass at the Vatican Basilica, concelebrated by 38 Metropolitan Archbishops who received the pallium. 
“In the first reading – the Holy Father said - a specific episode is narrated that shows the Lord's intervention to free Peter from prison. In the second Paul, on the basis of his extraordinary apostolic experience, is convinced that the Lord, who already freed him 'from the mouth of the lion' delivers him 'from all evil,' by opening the doors of Heaven to him. In the Gospel we no longer speak of the individual Apostles, but the Church as a whole and its safekeeping from the forces of evil, in the widest and most profound sense. Thus we see that the promise of Jesus - 'the powers of hell shall not prevail' on the Church – yes, includes the historical experience of persecution suffered by Peter and Paul and other witnesses of the Gospel, but it goes further, wanting to protect especially against threats of a spiritual order.”

Continuing his homily, the Pope highlighted: “if we think of the two millennia of Church history, we can see that - as the Lord Jesus had announced (cf. Mt 10.16-33) – Christians have never been lacking in trials, which in some periods and places have assumed the character of real persecution. These, however, despite the suffering they cause, are not the greatest danger for the Church. In fact it suffers greatest damage from what pollutes the Christian faith and life of its members and its communities, eroding the integrity of the Mystical Body, weakening its ability to prophesy and witness, tarnishing the beauty of its face.” Faced with this reality, therefore, there is “a guarantee of freedom promised by God to the Church, it is freedom from the material bonds that seek to prevent or coerce mission, both through spiritual and moral evils, which may affect its authenticity and credibility.”
Associating the theme of the Church's freedom to the rite of the imposition of the Pallium, Benedict XVI explained that “historically, union with the Apostolic See, ensures the particular Churches and Episcopal Conferences freedom with respect to local, national or supranational powers, that can sometimes hinder the mission of the ecclesial Church. Furthermore, and most essentially, the Petrine ministry is a guarantee of freedom in the sense of full adherence to truth and authentic tradition, so that the People of God may be preserved from mistakes concerning faith and morals. Hence the fact that each year the new Metropolitans come to Rome to receive the pallium from the hands of the Pope, must be understood in its proper meaning, as a gesture of communion, and the issue of freedom of the Church gives us a particularly important key for interpretation. This is evident in the case of churches marked by persecution, or subject to political interference or other hardships. But this is no less relevant in the case of communities that suffer the influence of misleading doctrines or ideological tendencies and practices contrary to the Gospel. Thus the pallium becomes, in this sense, a pledge of freedom.”
Lastly, the Pope highlighted the ecumenical meaning of Christ's promise that the powers of hell will not prevail over the Church: “one of the typical effects of the Devil is division within the Church community. The divisions are in fact symptoms of the power of sin, which continues to act in members of the Church even after redemption. But...the unity of the Church is rooted in its union with Christ, and the cause of full Christian unity - always to be sought and renewed from generation to generation - is well supported by his prayer and his promise.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 30/06/2010)

Links: 
Complete text of the Holy Father's homily, in Italian
http://www.fides.org/ita/documents/Palli_Bas_SPiet_29062010.doc

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