A Igreja Santa e Pecadora: uma abordagem a partir do ensaio “Casta Meretrix” de Hans Urs Von Balthasar.

Abstract

Talking about the holiness of the Church does not seem to be difficult, especially since it is an affirmation of faith. The issue is when we have to face the sinfulness of the Church and not its holiness. The objective of our research is to explain the theological-ecclesiological status of the statement “Holy and sinful Church”. As a main theoretical reference we take the theologian Hans Urh Von Balthasar, specifically his ecclesiological essay Casta meretrix. However, we also brought to our research the thoughts of other theologians (Karl Rahner, Joseph Ratzinger, Salis Amaral, Álvaro Barreiro, Medard Kehl and Siegfried wiedenhofer). Our methodology was the bibliographic research of texts consistent with our theme. From the analysis of the theologians' thought, especially Von Balthasar's, we can understand the Church as holy and sinful, we cannot deny that the sins of its members are also yours, since there is no Church without members. This is a visible and terrifying reality. We understand that the expression proposed by Von Balthasar, Casta meretrix, is the most adequate to affirm this condition of the Church of Christ, as it unequivocally presents the double face of one and the same reality.