3.1. One Body, Many Wounds

The Church is the Body of Christ, as the Apostles described, with Jesus’ call to “build my Church” reflecting an effort to create a community of His disciples, not an institution bound by rigid structures. His prayer “that they will be one” expresses a vision of ultimate communion, a union of all who follow Him. However, the fractures caused by schisms, anathemas, and excommunications have complicated this vision. Despite these divisions, it is proper to acknowledge that all who belong to Christ—even those in imperfect communion with one another—are part of His Body. Excommunication and institutional separations may be seen as exercises of the authority Jesus granted to “bind and loose,” but these human mechanisms do not alter the spiritual reality of Christ’s unity. From Christ’s perspective, those who are excommunicated remain members of His Body, albeit distanced from the fullness of Truth. It is not the business of any single Church to hijack the entirety of the One True Church. However, it is still proper for Churches to figure out the 'institutional oneness' of the Church and which Church should return to which, in the eyes of Christ, which we support fully the primacy of Peter as first among equal, that may lead the Latin Church as the original base. Until the end of time, reconciliation among the divided remains not only a hope but a sacred duty.