I realise that the documents of Vatican II are solid theological gold, refined by the finest master craftsmen the Catholic Church could track down and that fifty years on those apparently stuffy documents continue to be awe-inspiringly brilliant…
But I think I have found at least single tiny flaw in one of them. So give me a medal or a bishopric or a yacht bigger than Monaco. I’m not asking for anything excessive, like say, I don’t know, shared Communion.
In Lumen Gentium paragraph 26 we read:
In any community of the altar, under the sacred ministry of the bishop, there is exhibited a symbol of that charity and “unity of the mystical Body, without which there can be no salvation.” In these communities, though frequently small and poor, or living in the Diaspora, Christ is present, and in virtue of His presence there is brought together one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
Did you see where the divines made their mistake?
They meant to write: “In these communities, though frequently huge and wealthy…” but a typo introduced the far less sensible “small and poor” instead.
As much as we try, churches seem to genuinely struggle with the priority of poverty.
Your Correspondent, Is moderately rich and can rent almost anything