Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - The following Letter was addressed by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples this morning to Rev. Don Julian Carron and all Friends of Communion and Liberation in Italian. (English translation by Fides)
Dear Reverend Julian, and Friends of Communion and Liberation,
This morning I heard the sad news of the death of Mons. Luigi Giussani founder of the movement Communion and Liberation. Immediately a sincere song of thanksgiving burst from my heart: "I will thank the Lord with all my heart among the just and amidst the assembly " [Ps 111,1].
On the feast day of the Chair of Peter - the Chair which he loved and served with all his heart - the human adventure of Don. Luigi has come to an end. After a most intense spiritual and human experience he has "gone Home" to contemplate the presence which he sought with intense tenacity.
What is true can be recognised in the Beauty in which it is reflected and manifested. This was the method of mission and education used by Mons. Luigi Giussani. To speak of beauty becomes the Christian event and only those who are able to communicate the experience of the Faith rooted and present in daily life can make it immediately recognisable. We cannot be missionaries unless we have a personal experience of Beauty who desires to communicate with humanity. And through his word and through his life Don Luigi communicated the Christian adventure. His were not empty or colourless words. He gave them the substance of authenticity by being faithful and consistent with what he said to the many young people who followed him. Don Luigi was a "father" of the living Word because he was "a faithful disciple" of the eternal Word. But for us he will always be an icon of fidelity to the Church and to the Pope, aware that there cannot be authentic evangelisation without real and effective obedience to the Vicar of Christ. Not only was the life of Don Luigi marked by total loyalty to the Pope, he wanted also the church Movement willed by God and started by him to grow in the Petrine dimension which is authentic ecclesiology of communion.
Dear Father Julian and Friends of Communion and Liberation, may Mons. Giussani who now blesses the Church from heaven accompany with even greater attention all of you and the thousands of other people all over the world touched in recent years by his words and his teaching.
How many have quenched their thirst at the source of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Son of God thanks to you and to many others connected with the Movement Communion and Liberation sent by Don Giussani into the world in search of those who have yet to encounter Christ. How many new missionaries connected with Communion and Liberation both laity and consecrated people have made lands at every latitude of the earth more fecund with their presence.
May today be a day to give thanks. We also wish to say "thank you" to Mary Most Holy Maria, "fountain of living hope", for the extraordinary gift of Don Luigi. Love the Church and you will love Don Luigi. Love Don Luigi and you will love the Church. And I bless you all with particular affection, yours in Christ.
Crescenzio Card. Sepe, Prefect
( Fides Service 22/2/2005)
