Human beings number in the billions, and vary widely in so many ways. Is unity even possible? On any scale?
523. We recognize a profound vocation to unity in the “heart” of each human being, because all have the same origin and Father, and because all bear in themselves the image and likeness of the same God in trinitarian unity (Cf. Gen 1:26).
Is it enough to be a like with God? It has not stopped those who presume themselves godly from acting as agents of death.
Christ has a victory, but we human beings still suffer from many aspects of death and decay. It is not only a contradiction, but a sign that worries and seduces us away from hope.
In the teachings of Vatican II the church recognizes itself as “sacrament of unity of the human race,” conscious of Christ’s paschal victory, but living in a world that is still under the power of sin, with its consequences of contradictions, dominations, and death. The ambiguity of the current globalization process is perceived from this faith-inspired interpretation of history.
Remember, you can check an English translation of the 2007 document from the Aparecida Conference.
Catholic Sensibility 