Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - “As we look forward to the meeting on Saturday June 3 in St Peter’s Square with the members of more than 100 new Church movements and communities, I am happy to offer you, the representatives of these ecclesial realities gathered at Rocca di Papa for a World Congress, a warm greeting with the words of St Paul: «May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in the faith that you may have abundant hope by virtue of the Holy Spirit » (Rom 15,13).” This is the opening passage of a message addressed by Pope Benedict XVI to participants at the 2nd World Congress for new Church Movements and Communities. The message was read at the beginning of the Congress by Bishop Josef Clemens, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
Pope Benedict XVI then refers to his intervention as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the 1st World Congress for Movements in 1998, and to the words of John Paul II who said Church Movements were “signs of hope for the good of the Church and humanity”. Then Benedict XVI urged them to reflect “on that which essentially characterises the Christian event: in this event we are met by the One who in flesh and blood, visibly, historically, brought the glory of God to earth”.
In an epoch when human reason is seriously threatened by relativism and nihilism, the Pope observes “Christ renders himself present in the human heart, drawing it to himself. It is thanks to this extraordinary attraction that reason is rescued from its torpor and opened to the Mystery”. This has put “many people in ‘movement’. Through the founders and leaders of your Movements and Communities you saw the face of Christ with singular luminosity and you set out. Still today Christ makes heard in many hearts the call “come and follow me” which can decide their destiny. This usually happens through the testimony of someone who has had a personal experience of the presence of Christ”.
The Holy Father’s Message continues with a recommendation with regard to Movements: “make sure they are always, schools of communion, societies on the move in which the members learn to live within the great family of his disciples in the truth and love revealed and communicated to us by Christ through the testimony of the Apostles”. And he makes an appeal: “Carry the light of Christ to every social and cultural environment in which you live…illuminate the darkness of a world bewildered by the contradictory messages of ideologies! Beauty is worthless if it is without a truth to recognise and follow, if love lapses into passing sentiment, if happiness becomes an elusive mirage, if freedom degenerates into instinct… Carry to this troubled world the testimony of the freedom with which Christ has freed us. The extraordinary fusion of love for God and love for neighbour renders life beautiful and causes the desert in which we often fund ourselves to flourish”.
In the last part of his message the Pope says that new Movements and Communities “are today a luminous sign of the beauty of Christ and the Church his Bride”. He thanks them for their activity in mission, in formation for Christian families, in promoting vocations and for the readiness with which they welcome the directions of the Successor of Peter and the Bishops of the local Churches. “I rely on your prompt obedience- the Pope said XVI -. Above and beyond the affirmation of the right to one’s own existence, the building up of the Body of Christ must always prevail with unquestionable priority. Problems must be faced by Movements with sentiments of profound communion, in a spirit of unity with the Bishops”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 1/6/2006 righe 44, parole 625)
