Greatest threat to Church comes from within, Pope says

It has been quite a while since I've heard one sentence sum up so much.   

The Church will never be defeated by external or internal enemies, but it is the internal enemies (dissidents) that appear to pose the greatest threat.

The greatest danger to the Church comes not from external enemies or critics, but "is born from the sin within the Church," Pope Benedict XVI said on May 11.

In a conversation with reporters who accompanied him on his flight from Rome to Portugal, Pope Benedict acknowledged that "attacks against the Pope or the Church don't come just from outside the Church."

"The suffering of the church also comes from within the Church," the Pope said. He continued:

This too has always been known, but today we see it in a really terrifying way. The greatest persecution of the church doesn’t come from enemies on the outside, but is born in sin within the church. The church thus has a deep need to re-learn penance, to accept purification, to learn on one hand forgiveness but also the necessity of justice. Forgiveness does not exclude justice.

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I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hell will not overpower it.  Matthew 16:18