"God is Father in His entirety and love in His entirety. For this reason, the Son is fully God, without any shortage or lessening": it was repeated today by Benedict XVI in the Wednesday catechesis from Saint Peter’s Square, which this time was focussed on the figure of Saint Hilary of Poitiers, born in 310, appointed Bishop in 353-354 and dead in 367. His liturgical memory is celebrated on 13th January. In 1851, he was proclaimed Doctor of the Church by Pius IX. "Hilary said the Pope consecrated all his life to defending the faith in the divine nature of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and as much God as the Father, who has begot Him since eternity". Benedict XVI spoke about the story and the works of Saint Hilary, from his attendance of the "synod of the false apostles" in Béziers, France, in 356, "dominated by the pro-Arian bishops who deny the divine nature of Jesus Christ". For this reason he was exiled to Phrygia, today’s Turkey, where he worked "relentlessly for the reinstatement of the unity of the Church on the basis of the ‘retta fidae’ formulated in the Council of Nicea". All of his Trinitarian theology, explained the Pope, comes "from the formula of Baptism". (continued)
