Ratzinger's Sacramental Ecclesiology Analysis

It would be unwise if someone says you want to see into the theologian Joseph Ratzinger's thoughts, now Pope Benedict XVI of the Roman Catholic Church, while not to understand his ecclesiology attentively. Usually his ecclesiology is called an "Ecclesiology of Communion" and Ratzinger himself also prefers to advocate the theory in the Catholic Church after the Vatican II Council. However this thesis chose "Sacramental Ecclesiology" when refers to his ecclesiology, not only because the concept of communion comes from Eucharist Sacrament for Ratzinger, but also the Church itself is seen by him as a fundamental sacrament, which all other sacraments in the Church rely on. So "Ecclesiology of Communion" is at heart a kind of "Sacramental Ecclesiology".Sacramental liturgy is unique ritual of Catholic Church. The church as a sacrament has been long understood since the beginning of it, which shows a reflection that the church takes itself as an assembly with both visible institution and invisible grace hence has an intrinsic tension. VaticanⅡsays the church is like a Sacrament in Christ and it also uses the biblical ecclesiological idea of "Mystical Body of Christ" and "People of God" and so on to describe the Church. The basic point of Ratzinger's ecclesiology is that, he sees the Church as the assembling of people of God. People of God are assembled around the Eucharist, and thereby they are united within the body of Christ. The assembly is realized in a sacramental community of the body of Christ. So Ratzinger places Eucharist at the center of the Church, and emphasizes the sacramental character of the Church. This Eucharistic ecclesiology leads to his picture of the communion of the church.This paper aims to give a simple overview of the ecclesiology in the history on the basic clue of the ecclesiological concepts of "Mystical Body of Christ" and "People of God", so as to examine the development and change of them in Ratzinger's time and why he highlights the sacramental aspect of church; at the same time how he balances and interprets the two concepts through the sacramental ecclesiology of communion. Since we know the ecclesiology is mirror of the time, together with his main works, the great events in history and personal experiences will be a good help for us to make a clear impression of Ratzinger's ecclesiology and his impact both on theology and Catholic Church, or even possibly we could find some constructive ideas for the future development of Catholic Church in China.