Theological Roots and Contemporary Challenges of Ecclesial Unity: Retrieving Balthasar’s Vision of Communio

What Hans Urs von Balthasar, together with Henri de Lubac and Joseph Ratzinger – not to mention other early pioneers – set out to do in the 1970s by launching the journal Communio has not lost its relevance. Now as then, Christians are called to strengthen Catholic communion within a Church constantly threatened by division as she makes her pilgrimage through what Gabriel Marcel called a «broken world».¹

Communio was not conceived primarily as an internationally coordinated consortium of multilingual publications, but as a bond of friendship uniting laypeople and priests from diverse backgrounds and cultures, all engaged in a common mission: fostering communion within the Church for the life of the world. A few years after the launch of the first editions, the various editorial boards emphasized how vital it was for them, their collaborators, and their readers to belong to the Church in a living, conscious way, and to deepen that sense of belonging continually. In 1992, Joseph Ratzinger recalled that the journal had been founded «to attract and bring together Christians simply on the basis of their shared faith, independently of their affiliation with particular communities».²Communion – particularly the communion of saints – is a fundamental attribute of the Church, as we profess in the Creed. In what follows, I would like to show, drawing especially on the thought of Hans Urs von Balthasar, how this fifth note both clarifies and concretizes the other four attributes: «one, holy, catholic, and apostolic».

Communion – particularly the communion of saints – is a fundamental attribute of the Church, as we profess in the Creed. In what follows, I would like to show, drawing especially on the thought of Hans Urs von Balthasar, how this fifth note both clarifies and concretizes the other four attributes: «one, holy, catholic, and apostolic».

1. A Bodily Enduring and Supernaturally Natural Reality

The Church – ecclesia – is an assembly called into being, a gathering summoned to a specific place, and therefore also a concrete, bounded space where a particular group must meet regularly. This community is not defined by race, nationality, ideology, or even by shared interests. It is a community not in the sociological sense of common goals or organizational structures, but as a space in which all who belong truly share one thing in common: the very life of God. This life is not granted on the basis of merit, but as a free and gracious gift, making them partakers of the divine nature (cf. 2 Pet 1,4).

For Saint Paul, as depicted in the Acts of the Apostles, and for the early Christians, the communities physically gathered in a specific place – what we would today call a local church – were indeed understood as the Church of God. The people of the ecclesia are set apart not by their own achievement, but by the presence and action of the Holy Spirit, who binds them together in Christ. In this sense, Karl Barth developed an ecclesiology entirely rooted in Christ: the ecclesial community is nothing other than the earthly-historical form of existence of Jesus Christ himself.³ If Christ is ever re-presented in the world – and he is, by God’s Spirit – then the Church will exist, but only insofar as she remains conformed to him. To say Ecclesia semper reformanda est is thus to affirm that the Church is far from being a finished institution or a self-sufficient society; rather, she is a dependent, creaturely community, continually formed and reformed by the Word of Christ. She stands always in need of renewal before that Word, in order to be what she is: a witness to the Kingdom of God, a foretaste of a reality that transcends this world even as it breaks into it.This Christocentric vision, while foundational, must be complemented by a recognition of the Church’s concrete nature. Although ecclesiology is ultimately grounded in Christology, it necessarily takes into account the realities of creation: the Church is not solely a spiritual or supernatural entity detached from the world, but one that exists within – and actively interacts with – the natural order, historical contexts, and temporal continuity. Indeed, the Church is the Body of Christ, «the fullness of Him who fills all in all» (Eph 1,23). What was once a mere gathering of individuals has become a unified body, composed of diverse members who exist for and with one another. Barth rightly emphasizes that the fullness of divinity resides solely in the Head. Yet this Head, in whom that fullness dwells, empowers the Body not only to reflect his fullness but also to extend it throughout time and history.The character of Revelation as an event resides in its very nature, insofar as it is given to us anew in each encounter, surpassing both our understanding and the horizon of our vision. Indeed, the Incarnation reveals that God dared to make human continuity not only a symbol but also the bodily expression and instrument of divine faithfulness – an analogy of nature that, in Christ, intertwines and unites human and divine natures inseparably forever. What gives form and identity to this Body is «a certain participation in the divine nature, which transcends every other nature».

This Christocentric vision, while foundational, must be complemented by a recognition of the Church’s concrete nature. Although ecclesiology is ultimately grounded in Christology, it necessarily takes into account the realities of creation: the Church is not solely a spiritual or supernatural entity detached from the world, but one that exists within – and actively interacts with – the natural order, historical contexts, and temporal continuity. Indeed, the Church is the Body of Christ, «the fullness of Him who fills all in all» (Eph 1,23). What was once a mere gathering of individuals has become a unified body, composed of diverse members who exist for and with one another. Barth rightly emphasizes that the fullness of divinity resides solely in the Head. Yet this Head, in whom that fullness dwells, empowers the Body not only to reflect his fullness but also to extend it throughout time and history.The character of Revelation as an event resides in its very nature, insofar as it is given to us anew in each encounter, surpassing both our understanding and the horizon of our vision. Indeed, the Incarnation reveals that God dared to make human continuity not only a symbol but also the bodily expression and instrument of divine faithfulness – an analogy of nature that, in Christ, intertwines and unites human and divine natures inseparably forever. What gives form and identity to this Body is «a certain participation in the divine nature, which transcends every other nature».

The character of Revelation as an event resides in its very nature, insofar as it is given to us anew in each encounter, surpassing both our understanding and the horizon of our vision. Indeed, the Incarnation reveals that God dared to make human continuity not only a symbol but also the bodily expression and instrument of divine faithfulness – an analogy of nature that, in Christ, intertwines and unites human and divine natures inseparably forever. What gives form and identity to this Body is «a certain participation in the divine nature, which transcends every other nature».⁴ This shared participation constitutes the Church’s unique character.This is precisely what Balthasar states. The Body is not simply a collection of isolated moments.

This is precisely what Balthasar states. The Body is not simply a collection of isolated moments.

If the Church, as the Body of Christ, always – and at each present moment – originates from the vertical event of the grace of the Incarnation, and if she exists as the Body of Christ to continually lead her members toward the event of faith and encounter with the divine Head, then she is likewise situated between the event as origin and the event as fulfilment – as a bodily enduring and supernaturally natural reality.⁵

Natural reality is not simply opposed to supernatural reality; rather, it becomes its instrument, serving as a mediator between the divine Spirit and the human spirit. The one Spirit, from whom all have received drink (1 Cor 12,13), actively shapes the community of believers into a spiritual body. Accordingly, individuals cease to exist as autonomous units and instead become organs within the Body, each contributing their unique charism to the vitality of the whole organism. The Church is the «pleromatic» unity (Col 1,18-19; 2,9-10) in which multiplicity dwells in Christ, through whom and for whom all things were created.The Church is

The Church is semper reformanda, meaning that she is – according to the Fathers – the prostitute of Ezek 16,1-63: the one in whom God dwells and whom he continually rescues from the sin of spiritual prostitution, that is, human pride in all its forms, in order to reconcile her to himself.⁶ Therefore, the Church’s self-reflection can take no other form than that of metanoia – a turning back toward God, who is her soul and salvation – yet a reflection that can never disregard her own condition as magna peccatrix. This very turning back is only possible through the prevenient grace of the Incarnation, or rather, it is the continuation of that Incarnation in the Mystical Body.

2. The Church as Communio

The Church, as the assembly of the People of God – koinonia – is constituted through the preaching of the Gospel and the faith that receives this proclamation «in the Spirit and in power» (1 Cor 2,4). More specifically, it is primarily in the celebration of the Eucharist that the Church is built up, for there the saving death of Christ is «proclaimed» (1 Cor 11,26) in such a way that all who partake – regardless of their origin – are united as one in the crucified and risen Christ (cf. 1 Cor 10,16-17). The Church is a communio, a community that originates in communion with Christ – the one who gave himself as a gift to the Church – and that opens her members to mutual sharing of heart, mind, and grace. Let us now seek to explore this point more deeply.

The word communio has two meanings, which are, moreover, closely interconnected in the language of faith. The first refers to the assembly of the faithful who participate in the Eucharistic celebration by receiving the consecrated species: the Communion of holy persons (sancti), the sancta electorum Ecclesia, or – referring to Heb 12,22-23 – the Church of the predestined, the Church consisting of those (humans or angels) who, from Adam to the consummation of the ages, having Christ as their head, adhere to God through faith on their earthly journey and attain the Beatific Vision at their end. The second refers to the Eucharist itself, which realizes the deepest union with our brothers and sisters: the essential sacrament, the sacrament that transmits new life or, as Péguy says, «provides nourishment and life, a mystical nourishment and a mystical life».⁷ Indeed, in this sacrament is found the ever-new presence of the physical humanity of Christ – which the Fathers called soma typicon – now become pneumatic, as his Mystical Body (Corpus mysticum), his true flesh, precisely the Eucharist. Jesus’ Eucharistic self-communication, which is bestowed by the Holy Spirit, «pervades the spirits of men simultaneously, opens them to each other, lets them communicate in a common concrete truth of knowing and doing».⁸ Thus, from the Communion in the holy things (sancta) arises what Aquinas calls res tantum: the objective sacramental communion among the faithful, which is indissolubly the community of life within the Mystical Body – the Church.⁹ This Communion sanctifies the saints and confirms them in their holiness through participation in the blessings of God granted to the whole community.¹⁰The Eucharist establishes, first of all, communion with the Father in Christ. Through his flesh, the Lord already leads us here below, to eternal life. The eternal life of the Son in the Father is so rich and infinite that Christ can let it overflow, through his Eucharistic flesh, to fill every earthly and carnal life.

The Eucharist establishes, first of all, communion with the Father in Christ. Through his flesh, the Lord already leads us here below, to eternal life. The eternal life of the Son in the Father is so rich and infinite that Christ can let it overflow, through his Eucharistic flesh, to fill every earthly and carnal life.¹¹ From the eternal life in which he dwells, he imparts to each host his life and flesh, which produce their effects in the lives of those who receive Communion and leads them to eternal life. The term communio takes on a broader meaning here, as Father de Lubac has shown in his book Catholicism. Communion is a quality that characterizes the Trinitarian life and that the Father has given to men in Christ. It is a principle of unity inscribed in the divine economy of creation and redemption: an active principle antecedently given in Christ to mankind. God is love; God is communio personarum. Christ is the epitome of all God’s ways with his creation and his Church. Balthasar, following de Lubac’s theological insights, highlights this. The dead and risen Son

did truly become all things to all men, and he simultaneously stands on every level of human experience and is to be found in every human situation, even in those that fully contradict and exclude one another. And yet, in so doing, he does not cease being wholly human.¹²

His concrete universality allows him to be ever-present for everyone. The mystery of his presence offers itself to us in the multiplicity of the created world, where it is reflected as in a shattered mirror.This communion, which was implanted through Christ in man, created in the divine image and likeness, performs the gradual work of unifying humanity and the cosmos towards its ultimate end: communion in the Triune God in the glory of the heavenly Jerusalem. Thanks to this principle, mankind is one in its creaturely origin and in its vocation, which is to reflect God’s intention in redeeming the world: the intention of enabling mankind’s call and journey towards its end. With Eucharistic communion, there is thus an immediate insertion into the bodily efficacy of Christ’s salvation. The Head unites the social body of the Church, which truly becomes the Mystical Body of Christ in its fullest sense. This Body, as the sacrament of Christ for the world, is ordered toward the totality of redemption.

This communion, which was implanted through Christ in man, created in the divine image and likeness, performs the gradual work of unifying humanity and the cosmos towards its ultimate end: communion in the Triune God in the glory of the heavenly Jerusalem. Thanks to this principle, mankind is one in its creaturely origin and in its vocation, which is to reflect God’s intention in redeeming the world: the intention of enabling mankind’s call and journey towards its end. With Eucharistic communion, there is thus an immediate insertion into the bodily efficacy of Christ’s salvation. The Head unites the social body of the Church, which truly becomes the Mystical Body of Christ in its fullest sense. This Body, as the sacrament of Christ for the world, is ordered toward the totality of redemption.

3. The Church as Catholic

«Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church».¹³ From the outset, the Christian community claimed the name Catholic, not merely to distinguish itself among religious expressions, but to signify that in its concrete and defined form it bears the universality of the singular – the One who, precisely by his absolute uniqueness, is the source of all universality. Even in her embryonic form, the Church recognized herself as a communion shaped by divine charity, manifest in mutual love and sustained by the self-revelation of God in Jesus Christ. As Henri de Lubac observed, «The Church was already catholic on the morning of Pentecost, when all her members could still fit in a single room».¹⁴ This universality is not accidental or historical, but ontological: it flows from the enduring presence of her Founder, in whom the fullness of God is pleased to dwell.

Balthasar, for his part, emphasizes the open and dynamic nature of the community that bears the name of Jesus Christ, as well as the deep tension – at times approaching paradox – that this community is called to inhabit between God and the world. Though few in number during the early centuries, the first Christians did not see themselves as simply one group among others. Rather, they understood themselves as belonging to a Church with a universal vocation – a calling that, precisely because it is universal, carries normative significance for the whole world. This profound self-understanding gave them the strength to endure, with interior peace, the tension of dwelling within a world often marked by darkness and hostility, while belonging already to the true polis shaped by the incarnate and self-giving love of God.Thus, the term Catholic signifies something all-embracing and inclusive, both globally and locally. It conveys the Church’s universal scope – a scope that transcends local particularities while simultaneously embracing and living within them. In this sense, the Church is both universal and particular: she transcends any single community, yet is rooted in every local expression of faith, making her a universal communion fully present in each place. Balthasar draws particular attention to this:

Thus, the term Catholic signifies something all-embracing and inclusive, both globally and locally. It conveys the Church’s universal scope – a scope that transcends local particularities while simultaneously embracing and living within them. In this sense, the Church is both universal and particular: she transcends any single community, yet is rooted in every local expression of faith, making her a universal communion fully present in each place. Balthasar draws particular attention to this:

If Christian truth is not of universal (catholic) importance, it falls with all its claims (whether they are made by the word of the Bible or by an ecclesiastical ministry) onto the rubbish-heap of religious lumber. Yet in order to be of universal importance, it has to be something special, definite, unique, as opposed to what falls within everyone’s range of vision. And not only «something» special among other special things, but the special thing, so much so that it can claim universal importance precisely on the ground of its uniqueness.¹⁵ 

The so-called «Catholic and» – the theological instinct within Catholicism to affirm both sides of what appear to be contradictory realities (faith and works, grace and freedom, Scripture and Tradition) – has often been criticized, particularly by rigorist Augustinian thinkers such as Luther and Karl Barth, as a kind of irresolute compromise. From their vantage point, the effort to hold together apparent opposites can seem like a refusal to follow theological logic to its proper conclusion. Yet as Balthasar observes, this critique reflects only one possible approach to truth. The one who sees most clearly is not necessarily the one who rigidly isolates and absolutizes positions, but rather the one who perceives more – who is capable of embracing the full scope of revealed reality, including its intrinsic tensions and paradoxes. Far from being a vague syncretism or a weak middle path, the oft-maligned «Catholic and» reveals a dramatic capacity for integration – a unitive force able to reconcile what human reason alone would judge irreconcilable, precisely because it is animated by the mystery of the divine.The tension between universal scope and embodiment in particular, concrete, and historically determined realities is thus not incidental but constitutive of the very nature of the Christian reality itself. In fact, Jesus Christ himself embodies the Catholic principle: he is both God and man, he has descended into hell and ascended into heaven, he encompasses and redefines all dimensions of human existence – personal and social – from within his own experience. Through him, what appears divided or contradictory finds a new, deeper unity. This fundamental tension between universality and particularity is inescapable, and must be consciously embraced by those who seek to follow Jesus Christ today. Christians should bear witness that in the Church, communion means a living and fruitful unity, that is, a unity that develops into an organic multiplicity and reciprocity. To be sure, the concrete and living unity of the Church is not uniformity; there is room within her for a variety of theological opinions. «There is nothing more contrary to true Christian unity than the search for uniformity: the latter always consists in the desire to render a particular form universal, to confine life within one of its expressions».

The tension between universal scope and embodiment in particular, concrete, and historically determined realities is thus not incidental but constitutive of the very nature of the Christian reality itself. In fact, Jesus Christ himself embodies the Catholic principle: he is both God and man, he has descended into hell and ascended into heaven, he encompasses and redefines all dimensions of human existence – personal and social – from within his own experience. Through him, what appears divided or contradictory finds a new, deeper unity. This fundamental tension between universality and particularity is inescapable, and must be consciously embraced by those who seek to follow Jesus Christ today. Christians should bear witness that in the Church, communion means a living and fruitful unity, that is, a unity that develops into an organic multiplicity and reciprocity. To be sure, the concrete and living unity of the Church is not uniformity; there is room within her for a variety of theological opinions. «There is nothing more contrary to true Christian unity than the search for uniformity: the latter always consists in the desire to render a particular form universal, to confine life within one of its expressions».

This fundamental tension between universality and particularity is inescapable, and must be consciously embraced by those who seek to follow Jesus Christ today. Christians should bear witness that in the Church, communion means a living and fruitful unity, that is, a unity that develops into an organic multiplicity and reciprocity. To be sure, the concrete and living unity of the Church is not uniformity; there is room within her for a variety of theological opinions. «There is nothing more contrary to true Christian unity than the search for uniformity: the latter always consists in the desire to render a particular form universal, to confine life within one of its expressions».¹⁶ Circumdata varietate: the Catholic Church is resplendent in her variety. As heir to the Catholica bonitas of God himself, she ever proclaims, as in St. Augustine’s time: «I am in all languages. Greek is mine, Syrian is mine, Hebrew is mine, [the languages] of all peoples are mine, for I am the unity of all peoples».¹⁷ Like de Montcheuil and de Lubac, Balthasar firmly rejects the idea of confining Christian thought within a single, rigid system. Of course, advocating for the «pluriformity», the «concert», and the «harmony» characteristic of Christian thought does not imply endorsing a pluralism of fundamentally incompatible beliefs or interpretations. There is no such thing as a double truth. Genuine plurality does not mean merely accommodating differences in the spirit of appeasement. Fides una is a fundamental principle in Christian theology, according to which, in the midst of the diversity of cultures, traditions, and theological interpretations, there is one faith, shared by all believers in Jesus Christ.Christ is one, and yet he has many members. Living in universal – Catholic – communion requires that the Christian firmly embrace the foundational truths we have outlined. Above all, following Christ entails striving toward a 

Christ is one, and yet he has many members. Living in universal – Catholic – communion requires that the Christian firmly embrace the foundational truths we have outlined. Above all, following Christ entails striving toward a concrete universality. The divine Creator and Redeemer – the ever-present Logos who is present in all things – is, for the Christian, the all-encompassing source of understanding and volition. He is consciously and freely followed as the absolute and concrete norm for all ethical and religious action. Such a perspective is not about Catholic triumphalism – not a claim that Catholicism has all the answers and other Christian or non-Christian viewpoints are simply wrong or partial. On the contrary: the truly Catholic stance acknowledges that God’s perspective, and that of Jesus Christ, can never be fully claimed by any individual or institution, not even by the Church itself. In fact, non-Catholic perspectives often serve as painful but necessary reminders to Catholicism of the very truths it may have overlooked, forgotten, or failed to integrate due to its own sin and neglect. These outside voices call the Church back to its centre – and reveal how far she still has to go.

Such a perspective is not about Catholic triumphalism – not a claim that Catholicism has all the answers and other Christian or non-Christian viewpoints are simply wrong or partial. On the contrary: the truly Catholic stance acknowledges that God’s perspective, and that of Jesus Christ, can never be fully claimed by any individual or institution, not even by the Church itself. In fact, non-Catholic perspectives often serve as painful but necessary reminders to Catholicism of the very truths it may have overlooked, forgotten, or failed to integrate due to its own sin and neglect. These outside voices call the Church back to its centre – and reveal how far she still has to go.

4. The Church, Guardian of True Humanism

The Church, as willed by God, is a community of those who have been set free from themselves and invited to follow Christ, who «fully reveals man to himself and makes his supreme calling clear».¹⁸ Balthasar explains:

According to the Catholic faith, the believer, or still more simply, mankind, has only one norm to follow: that of the man par excellence, who revealed to us the meaning of existence, who knew and took on himself all the sufferings of humanity and whom God – through the Resurrection – affirmed as the perfect expression of his truth and will. According to the Bible and to our faith, Christ is our liberation from all imaginable ideologies: we are no longer bound to the Jewish law that regulated communication between man and God; nor must we bow to what Paul calls the «cosmic elements» that dominate pagan religions, and under which we could easily subsume the evolutionist ideologies – and therefore also Communism.¹⁹

Christians are summoned to let Christ shine forth (2 Cor 4,6), as the One who, in revealing God, also unveils the true nature and vocation of the human person. United in service to the divine plan of redemption, they are bound together to become instruments of liberation – for one another and for the world.²⁰ Indeed, they are to hold all things in common (Acts 2,44 and Acts 4,32), and are entrusted with a mission not of their own making.

Jesus willed the Church to be essentially missionary, therefore a centrifugal community rather than a people closed in on itself. This is the great difference from Israel: more than any other people on earth, Israel is a people that stands in itself, not a missionary but a centripetal people. For Israel, salvation comes through the gathering of all its scattered members, exiled far away, to the Holy Land received as an inheritance. The Church, on the other hand, lives by being sent on mission.²¹

For Christians, participating in communion with Christ means entering into his mission as Redeemer, but this is only possible if they are deeply rooted in the Church’s Communio.

«There is no true union except between persons, and where there is no freedom, there are no persons, just as, without God, there is no freedom».²² Christians who freely choose to live in accordance with Christ’s norm, as liberated individuals, partake in a communion – a sharing, an exchange – in every sphere, both spiritual and material. Far from negating human freedom, this communion rests upon it and fosters its full realization. A Christian is the paradigm of the liberated person who embodies true humanism. Indeed, when we «follow the Spirit», as the Letter to the Galatians (Gal 5) puts it, a Christian humanism emerges – one that unbelievers will recognize as a well-balanced humaneness. A person who spreads «love, joy, peace, kindness», who exudes «friendliness», and who «has control over himself», is someone others naturally enjoy being around. Yet, «Only those who look beneath the surface see that all these pleasant characteristics are not mere character traits or acquired etiquette but have deeper, more hidden sources. Yet those who have “crucified their passions and desires” in imitation of Christ do not reveal to others that they live out of the Spirit of God, much less that they follow him. The Spirit is like a hidden spring inside them, from which these pleasant characteristics bubble forth».²³ For us Catholics, Balthasar believes, this is the only form of humanism that can be truly complete and, therefore, meaningful for all – that is, universal and Catholic.

5. The Obstacles to Communio

Looking back through history, even in more recent times, it becomes evident that the Church, living in our broken world, has always faced the constant threat of division. Balthasar identifies two opposing attitudes that, both today and in the recent past, have deeply wounded the unity of the Catholic Church. On one side, there is a rigid legalism or traditionalism that seeks to replace Christian freedom with a mechanical system of laws, a lifeless dogmatism, an unyielding inheritance from the past. On the other side, there is a lax pluralism that abandons Christ’s vision of the founding event of ecclesial communion, leaving each individual to interpret it as they please. This, in turn, leads to the breakdown of the strong unity that the liberating truth of Christ offers, inevitably causing division and alienation among believers.

There is a current within the Church that elevates secondary forms of tradition as the primary criterion for affiliation, judging contemporary decisions solely by appeal to so-called «revealed truth». However, such forms cannot serve as a true standard for belonging to the Church. This kind of traditionalism, Balthasar argues,²⁴ relies on expressions of faith that are disconnected from living theology and philosophy, and therefore lack persuasive validity today. In any theological discourse, one must guard against a «dogmatism» that reduces Christ – who is our life – to abstract and lifeless formulas. The theologian reminds us that the divine Person of Christ revealed truth not through the power of reason, but through solidarity with the least and the powerless.Opposite the «traditionalist» stands the figure of the agitator, who – imitating the

Opposite the «traditionalist» stands the figure of the agitator, who – imitating the proagōn («progressivist») of whom Saint John speaks (2 John 9) – sets himself up as the supreme authority, elevating his own private «knowledge» to the status of a norm for the faith.²⁵ In the turbulent years following the Second Vatican Council, Balthasar was particularly incisive in his critique of what he called the «progressive minority»²⁶ – a small group of theologians who, under the pretense of openness to other perspectives, actively sought to subvert the Church’s doctrinal tradition. «Just as the Legion of Mary», Henri de Lubac remarks with sly irony,

identifies itself with the Blessed Virgin, our Progressives have identified themselves with Progress. And just as anyone who is not enthusiastic about the said Legion is seen as an enemy of the Blessed Virgin, so too, anyone who does not follow our Progressives must be a reactionary…²⁷

Claude Bruaire, a former president of the French edition of Communio, made clear the common root of these opposing fronts. «The conservatism of some refers to the progressivism of others; we are dealing with two symmetrical ways of exhausting Christianity in vague and invalid ideologies».²⁸ The reality of what Bruaire calls the inexhaustible, by which he meant the ever-flowing and gracious origin of creation and redemption, rules out two extremes: on the one hand, that of reducing revelation to something dead, past, and finished; on the other hand, that of claiming a religion of the spirit understood in terms of the formlessness of an indeterminate future. In both cases, as the French philosopher aptly states, the very possibility of revelation is denied. Bruaire was convinced that a true retour aux sources enables us to avoid the two contrary temptations: the absorption of the originating paternal power in an unreformable organization, but also, conversely, the dissolution of every structure in a pneumatic formlessness; that is: «in a cult of spontaneity where the claim of the spirit’s presence in the community merely conceals an affective contagion».²⁹

6. A Program

Gal 5,1 warns us that divisions and intolerance within Christian communities betray a relapse into the «yoke of slavery» from which Christ has set us free. When Communio was founded, it sought above all to overcome the polarizing attitudes, convictions and ideologies that had driven believers into two opposing, radical camps. From a truly Catholic standpoint, we must rise above the simplistic Left-Right divide: political, social or religious labels should never become the primary markers of those led by the Spirit. Accordingly, Catholics ought to resist applying partisan labels to fellow members of the Church, since doing so jeopardizes her unity and catholicity.

Moreover, Christians are meant to sustain the tension between God and the world, standing firm in the inevitable conflict between the dominant pressures of a secularized society and their own apparent insignificance. They can do so only if they recognize that the heart of the Church does not beat in intellectual debates, but in the lived faith of believers – where persons, meeting in freedom, overcome individualism through encounter in the Spirit. However modest their presence may seem, it carries a universal significance, insofar as it draws from the same Catholic source – the fullness of life that flows through every branch of the great tree that is the Church.A shared endeavour such as a journal presupposes a yearning for communion and a desire to cultivate it. In Balthasar’s view, the journal was meant «to perceive the Church as a central

A shared endeavour such as a journal presupposes a yearning for communion and a desire to cultivate it. In Balthasar’s view, the journal was meant «to perceive the Church as a central communio, a community born of communion with Christ, who gave himself as a gift to the Church; as a communio that allows us to share our hearts, thoughts, and blessings».³⁰ In the founders’ intention, it was to unite contributors and readers on various levels – local, national, and international – and to serve as a channel through which the ever-prior gift of divine love, always already given and firmly established, might pour itself out into the life of the Church. This journal, Alessandro Clemenzia wrote in the editorial for the first issue of

This journal, Alessandro Clemenzia wrote in the editorial for the first issue of Fidei Communio, is intended as a «laboratory for thinking together»: «a true and proper communal intelligere by a group of scholars who, inspired by the beauty of friendship and captivated by the allure of truth, are ready to experience “the joy of risk and the courage of faith”». The grace granted to the young theologians of its team is both a gift and a responsibility. They are able to embrace it because they understand the Catholic Church as a true communio and are committed to renewing it as a program for our time.

1. G. Marcel, Le monde cassé. Pièce en quatre actes, suivi de Position et approches concrètes du mystère ontologique (Les Îles 4), Paris, Desclée de Brouwer & Cie, 1933. ↩
2. J. Ratzinger, Communio, in Internationale katholische Zeitschrift Communio [IkaZ] 21 (1992), 458; trans. Communio: A Program, in Communio. International Catholic Review [Communio] 3 (1992), 436-449, here 441. ↩
3. Cf. K. Barth, Die kirchliche Dogmatik, IV/2: Die Lehre von der Versöhnung: Jesus Christus, der Knecht als Herr, Zollikon-Zürich, Evangelischer Verlag, 1955, 64; 67-68. ↩
4. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, I-II, 112, 1. ↩
5. H.U. von Balthasar, Karl Barth, Einsiedeln, Johannes Verlag, 1976⁴, 396. ↩
6. Cf. H.U. von Balthasar, Casta Meretrix, in Id., Sponsa Verbi, Einsiedeln, Johannes Verlag, 1971², 203-305; trans. Spouse of the Word, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1991. We refer to this argument in our article: J. Servais, La confession de la Casta Meretrix, in Revue catholique internationale Communio 4 (2014), 103-120; trans. The Confession of the Casta Meretrix, in Communio 4 (2013), 642-662. ↩
7. C. Péguy, Clio. Dialogue de l’histoire et de l’âme païenne (1st version, 1909), in Id., Œuvres en prose 1909-1914, Paris, Gallimard, 1957, 433. ↩
8. H.U. von Balthasar, Communio – Ein Programm, in IkaZ 1/1 (1972), 4-17, here 7; trans. Communio: A Program, in Communio 1 (2006), 153-169, here 156-157. ↩
9. Cf. H. de Lubac, La foi chrétienne. Essai sur la structure du symbole des apôtres, in Id., Œuvres complètes, t. V, É. de Moulins-Beaufort (dir.), présentation de P. Bexell, Paris, Cerf, 2008; trans. The Christian Faith: An Essay on the Structure of the Apostles’ Creed, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1986, 218s. Cf. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, III, 73, 6; Lumen gentium, n. 3: «In the sacrament of the eucharistic bread, the unity of all believers who form one body in Christ is both expressed and brought about». ↩
10. «Virtus enim ipsa quae ibi [in the Eucharist] intelligitur, unitas est, ut redacti in corpore ejus, effecti membra ejus, simus quod accipimus» (Saint Augustine, Sermo 57, PL 38, 389; cf. 1247s.). ↩
11. Cf. A. von Speyr, Johannes, vol. III, Freiburg, Johannes Verlag, 2021², 408-409. ↩
12. H.U. von Balthasar, Das Weizenkorn, Trier, Johannes Verlag Einsiedeln, 1989⁴, 62; trans. The Grain of Wheat, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1995, 63-64. ↩
13. Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans VIII, 2: SCh 10, 138. ↩
14. H. de Lubac, Catholicisme. Les aspects sociaux du dogme, in Id., Œuvres complètes, t. VII, Paris, Cerf, 2003; trans. Catholicism, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1988. ↩
15. Balthasar, Communio – Ein Programm, 4; trans. Communio: A Program, 154. ↩
16. Y. de Montcheuil, Vérité et diversité dans l’Église, quoted in H. de Lubac, Les églises particulières dans l’Église universelle, Paris, Aubier, 1971, 60; trans. The Motherhood of the Church, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1982, 218. ↩
17. De Lubac, Catholicisme, 255; trans. Catholicism, 297. ↩
18. Gaudium et spes, n. 22. ↩
19. H.U. von Balthasar, The Mission of Communio, in Communio 3 (1992), 507-509, here 507-508. ↩
20. Cf. Ratzinger, Einführung in das Christentum, Zürich, Buchclub Ex Libris, 1968, 69; trans. Introduction to Christianity, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2004², 100. ↩
21. H.U. von Balthasar, Prüfet alles, das Gute behaltet, Freiburg, Johannes Verlag, 2001², 9. ↩
22. H. de Lubac, Le drame de l’humanisme athée, in Id., Œuvres complètes, t. II, première section : “L’homme devant Dieu”, G. Chantraine – M. Sales (ed.), Paris, Cerf, 1998; trans. The Drama of Atheist Humanism, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1995, 329. ↩
23. H.U. von Balthasar, Licht des Wortes, Freiburg, Johannes Verlag, 2012⁴, 177-178; trans. Light of the Word, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1993, 199-200. ↩
24. H.U. von Balthasar, Kleine Fibel für verunsicherte Laien, Trier, Johannes Verlag, 1989³, 91; trans. A Short Primer for Unsettled Laymen, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1985, 117. ↩
25. H. de Lubac, “L’Église dans la crise actuelle”, dans Paradoxe et mystère de l’Église, suivi de L’Église dans la crise actuelle, in Id., Œuvres complètes, t. IX, Paris, Cerf, 2010. ↩
26. H.U. von Balthasar, Zur Priesterfrage an der Bischofsynode 1971, in IkaZ 1/1 (1972), 76, referring to the theologians «der kleinen freundschaftlich verbundenen Gruppe der soziologischen Richtung». The story of both of the first sessions of the new International Theological Commission and of the 1971 Synod of Bishops on priesthood amply illustrates how Balthasar, as well as de Lubac and several other outstanding French theologians, clashed with the liberal wing formed around Karl Rahner. As Balthasar admits, these struggles were an «adventure» that was not unlike a «soccer game» (IkaZ 1/1 [1972], 73). ↩
27. Letter from Father de Lubac to his Provincial, cited in M.-G. Lemaire, Henri de Lubac, vol. III: Enseignement et désert (1930-1960), Paris, Cerf, 2023, 685. ↩
28. C. Bruaire, Le droit de Dieu, Paris, Aubier, 1974, 113. ↩
29. C. Bruaire, La raison politique, Paris, Fayard, 1974, 198. ↩
30. Balthasar, The Mission of Communio, 509. ↩