Confession speaks utterly concretely and historically about the Church, which has been from the beginning of the world and will be to the end thereof (Art. 27). It is precisely this reality of the Church that makes everything we say about her so serious. One cannot excuse oneself for the defects in the “empirical” Church by hiding behind unreachable ideals and unfulfillable norms. The credo ecclesiam makes the Church vulnerable, since, in the midst of her past and present existence, she witnesses