Here’s an inspiring meditation on the problem of corruption within the Church, based on the prophetic vision of St. Hildegard of Bingen.

How can there be corruption in the Church: the spotless Bride of Christ? This is a problem that I explored in The Faithful Departed. It’s a mistake to draw a sharp distinction between an inerrant loyal Church and a faithless human institution. There’s only the one institution, composed of sinful humans but protected by divine mandate.

So this writer, following the lead of St. Hildegard, concludes:

The final test will not consist in choosing between two Churches. It will consist in remaining faithful to the one Church precisely when its wounds are visible to all. Even when those in the highest ecclesiastical offices collaborate, consciously or unconsciously, with the advance of processes contrary to the Kingdom of God, the Church of the Promises will continue to exist solely under Peter.