VATICAN CITY, 17 MAY 2008 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience a group of bishops, participants in a seminar promoted by the Pontifical Council for the Laity to reflect on the question of pastoral solicitude towards ecclesial movements and new communities. The seminar was held from 15 to 17 May at Rocca di Papa near Rome.
"Ecclesial movements and new communities", said the Pope, "are one of the most important novelties the Holy Spirit has generated in the Church in order to put Vatican Council II into effect. ... Paul VI and John Paul II were able to welcome and discern, to encourage and promote, the unexpected emergence of the new lay groups which, in various and surprising ways, restored vitality, faith and hope to the entire Church".
Although "no small amount of prejudice, resistance and tension has been overcome", said the Holy Father, "there remains the important task of promoting more mature communion among the components of the Church, so that all charisms, while respecting the specific nature of each, may fully and freely contribute to constructing the one Body of Christ".
Pope Benedict then turned to consider the theme of the seminar - "I ask you to reach out to the movements with great love" - an exhortation he himself had addressed to a group of German bishops on their "ad limina" visit in 2006. "Reaching our with great love to movements and new communities", he said, "impels us to an adequate knowledge of their situation, avoiding superficial impressions and reductive judgements". This helps us to understand that such movements "are not a problem, ... they are a gift from the Lord, a precious resource to enrich the entire Christian community with their charisms".
"Difficulties and misunderstandings on particular points do not justify [an attitude] of closure", said the Pope. And he told the prelates that they must "closely accompany" the movements and new communities "with paternal solicitude" so as to put to good use "the many gifts they bear, gifts we have learned to know and appreciate: their missionary drive, their effective courses of Christian formation, their witness of faithfulness and obedience to the Church, their sensitivity to the needs of the poor, and their wealth of vocations.
"The authenticity of the new charisms is guaranteed by their willingness to submit to the discernment of ecclesiastical authority", the Holy Father added. In this context he indicated that bishops "must examine and test the charims in order to recognise and evaluate that which is good, true and beautiful, that which contributes to increasing the sanctity of individuals and of the community. And when it is necessary to intervene in order to correct", he concluded, "such interventions must also be expressions of 'great love'".
AC/MOVEMENTS/CON-L VIS 20080519 (470)
"Ecclesial movements and new communities", said the Pope, "are one of the most important novelties the Holy Spirit has generated in the Church in order to put Vatican Council II into effect. ... Paul VI and John Paul II were able to welcome and discern, to encourage and promote, the unexpected emergence of the new lay groups which, in various and surprising ways, restored vitality, faith and hope to the entire Church".
Although "no small amount of prejudice, resistance and tension has been overcome", said the Holy Father, "there remains the important task of promoting more mature communion among the components of the Church, so that all charisms, while respecting the specific nature of each, may fully and freely contribute to constructing the one Body of Christ".
Pope Benedict then turned to consider the theme of the seminar - "I ask you to reach out to the movements with great love" - an exhortation he himself had addressed to a group of German bishops on their "ad limina" visit in 2006. "Reaching our with great love to movements and new communities", he said, "impels us to an adequate knowledge of their situation, avoiding superficial impressions and reductive judgements". This helps us to understand that such movements "are not a problem, ... they are a gift from the Lord, a precious resource to enrich the entire Christian community with their charisms".
"Difficulties and misunderstandings on particular points do not justify [an attitude] of closure", said the Pope. And he told the prelates that they must "closely accompany" the movements and new communities "with paternal solicitude" so as to put to good use "the many gifts they bear, gifts we have learned to know and appreciate: their missionary drive, their effective courses of Christian formation, their witness of faithfulness and obedience to the Church, their sensitivity to the needs of the poor, and their wealth of vocations.
"The authenticity of the new charisms is guaranteed by their willingness to submit to the discernment of ecclesiastical authority", the Holy Father added. In this context he indicated that bishops "must examine and test the charims in order to recognise and evaluate that which is good, true and beautiful, that which contributes to increasing the sanctity of individuals and of the community. And when it is necessary to intervene in order to correct", he concluded, "such interventions must also be expressions of 'great love'".
AC/MOVEMENTS/CON-L VIS 20080519 (470)
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