While personal faith in Jesus is essential in a Christian's life, Jesus also came to gather his disciples into a new people of God, the community of the Church, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“A slogan in vogue a few years ago, 'Jesus, yes; the Church, no,' is completely irreconcilable with the intention of Christ,” the pope said March 15 at his weekly general audience.

The audience, held in St Peter's Square under bright, sunny skies, marked the beginning of a series of audience talks Pope Benedict planned on “The Mystery of Christ and his Church”.

“In the catechesis that begins today, I want to demonstrate how the light of Christ's face is reflected in the face of the Church, despite the limits and shadows of our fragile and sinful humanity,” the pope said.

Pope Benedict criticised the “individualistic interpretation” of Christ's ministry espoused by “liberal theologians” such as the late German theologian Adolf von Harnack.

The idea of von Harnack and others that Jesus' mission is addressed only to individuals, he said, “is a typically modern” interpretation of relationships and does not fit in with the biblical description of God establishing a covenant with an entire people and sending Jesus to establish a new covenant and save all humanity.

Setting aside his prepared text, the pope said, “This individualistic Jesus is a Jesus of fantasy. We cannot have Jesus without the reality (of the Church) he created and through which he communicates himself.”

Even if Jesus' preaching “always was an appeal to personal conversion, he constantly aimed at the formation of the people of God which he came to gather, unify and save,” the pope said.

Jesus founded the Church by calling the Twelve Apostles, sharing his life and ministry with them and entrusting the continuing guidance of the new community to them, he said.

“Having entrusted to them at the Last Supper before his Passion the task of celebrating his memorial, Jesus demonstrated that he wanted to transfer to the entire community -- in the person of its leaders -- the mandate of being the sign and instrument in history of the gathering he began,” the pope said.

“The Twelve Apostles are the most evident sign of the will of Christ regarding the existence and mission of his church, the guarantee that between Christ and his Church there is no contradiction,” he said.

Again speaking without notes, the pope said Jesus and the Church “are inseparable despite the sins of the people who make up the Church.”

“Christ is present today among his people, especially through those who are the successors of the apostles,” he said. “And his continuing presence in the community is a motive for our joy.”

(CNS)