In obedience to the Spirit

"I had no other intention than to serve Christ and his Church, to give them a taste of God." One of the most renowned theologians at Vatican II, Cardinal Henri De Lubac, a Jesuit (1896-1991), in 1952 dedicated his life to his diary. For him, theology was a form of charity to counter growing atheism, coupled with a close adherence to Christ: "There is no Christianity except through personal witness to the Person of Jesus Christ." Close to God and humanity, De Lubac lived in hiding during the Second World War as a member of the resistance.

In 1946, he was accused by Pius XII of modernism; deprived of his teaching post, his books were withdrawn from schools and educational institutions. Strong in his ideas, he did not engage in controversy but continued to write. Reinstated in his teaching post, Pope John XXIII appointed him an expert on the Second Vatican Council. A friend of Teilhard de Chardin, Maurice Blondel, and Gabriel Marcel, the prelate demonstrated how the heart of the Christian faith is the acceptance of the Spirit, equally present in the various charisms and theological postulates… In 2023, the Archdiocese of Lyon officially opened his beatification process.

Annamaria Gobbato
NP January 2026