Lumen Fidei - page 8

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Vatican Council. This is itself a clear indication
that Vatican II was a Council on faith, 6 inas-
much as it asked us to restore the primacy of
God in Christ to the centre of our lives, both as
a Church and as individuals. The Church never
takes faith for granted, but knows that this gift
of God needs to be nourished and reinforced
so that it can continue to guide her pilgrim way.
The Second Vatican Council enabled the light
of faith to illumine our human experience from
within, accompanying the men and women of
our time on their journey. It clearly showed how
faith enriches life in all its dimensions.
7. These considerations on faith— in continui-
ty with all that the Church’s magisterium has pro-
nounced on this theological virtue7 — are meant
to supplement what Benedict XVI had written
in his encyclical letters on charity and hope. He
himself had almost completed a first draft of an
encyclical on faith. For this I am deeply grateful
6 “Though the Council does not expressly deal with
faith, it speaks of it on every page, it recognizes its living, su-
pernatural character, it presumes it to be full and strong, and it
bases its teachings on it. It is sufficient to recall the Council’s
statements… to see the essential importance which the Coun-
cil, in line with the doctrinal tradition of the Church, attributes
to faith, the true faith, which has its source in Christ, and the
magisterium of the Church for its channel” (P aul VI, General
Audience [8 March 1967]: Insegnamenti V [1967], 705).
7 Cf., for example, First Vatican Ecumenical Council,
Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith Dei Filius, Ch. 3:
DS 3008-3020; Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dog-
matic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 5: Cate-
chism of the Catholic Church , Nos. 153-165.