This morning, in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father Leo XIV received in audience the members of Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service (CHARIS).
The following is the address delivered by the Pope to those present at the meeting:
Address of the Holy Father
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Peace be with you!
Your Eminence, Your Excellencies,
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome! Buenos Dias!
I am pleased to have my first meeting with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and to greet all of you present, as well as the communities, groups and schools of prayer and of evangelization that you represent. God has indeed blessed your communities with so many gifts, including spiritual vitality. I also greet the leaders of the national and international Services of Communion of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service (CHARIS), who have organized this gathering.
For the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, the years following the Second Vatican Council were a time of great expansion and growth, and of integration into the life of the Church, as well as for consolidating your structures of service.
My venerable Predecessors recognized this development as a great gift to the Church. Indeed, Saint Paul VI affirmed that nothing is more necessary for such an increasingly secularized world than the witness of this spiritual renewal, which the Holy Spirit is inspiring in the most diverse regions and communities (Cf. Address to the Third International Congress of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, Pentecost, 19 May 1975).
In emphasizing your characteristic focus on evangelization, Saint John Paul II said: “It is the Spirit himself who impels you to bear witness.” He likewise remarked: “How can anyone who has tasted the goodness of Christ remain silent and inactive?… Christ is our Savior… How can we fail to evangelize? Continue to communicate this zeal for the Gospel to those around you!” (Address to the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Communities, 7 December 1991).
For his part, Benedict XVI referred to the specific contribution you make to the Church. He said: “One of the positive elements and aspects of the Community of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal is precisely their emphasis on the charisms or gifts of the Holy Spirit and their merit lies in having recalled their topicality in the Church” (Address to the 13th International Conference of the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowship, 31 October 2008).
Like Cardinal Suenens in the early days of the movement, Pope Francis frequently spoke of you as a “flood of grace,” which is “for the whole Church, not just for some” (Prayer Vigil on the Occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, 3 June 2017). In summary, he outlined your path as “evangelization, spiritual ecumenism, caring for the poor and needy, and welcoming the marginalized,” and added, “all of it is based on worship! The foundation of the renewal is worshiping God!” (Address at the 37th National Convocation of the Renewal in the Holy Spirit, 1 June 2014).
I, too, wish to foster the relationship of mutual respect, closeness and support between the See of Peter and the great family of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. In this regard, I would like to reflect on the following key aspects of your spiritual experience: baptism in the Spirit; prayer of praise; the word of God; communion; and charity.
First baptism in the Spirit. Your shared journey of faith has its source in the personal experience of the Holy Spirit, which has enabled the grace of Baptism to become effective within each of you, leading you to a clear awareness of God’s love. This is the first powerful experience of grace that Saint Augustine himself had after his conversion and which he described in these heartfelt words: “O Christ Jesus, ‘my helper and redeemer’; suddenly it had become sweet to me to be without the sweets of folly. What I once feared to lose was now a delight to dismiss. You turned them out and entered to take their place, pleasanter than any pleasure” (Confessions, IX, 1, 1).
The Holy Spirit has likewise allowed you to taste the sweetness of Christ. For you, too, life has changed since that moment. God ceased to be a mere idea and became the real and ultimate expression of fatherhood. His Spirit has brought inner reconciliation, peace and freedom from worldly attachments and the oppression of sin. He has also made possible a new outlook characterized by openness and hope towards others and the future, in the certainty that nothing can ever separate us from the love of Christ (cf. Rom 8:38–39). From this experience of the Holy Spirit comes the inner desire to be witnesses and heralds of his love, bringing his consolation to people oppressed by a sense of emptiness and loneliness.
Prayer of praise. It was precisely from this captivating experience of the Holy Spirit that a new life of prayer began, taking the form of a new capacity for spontaneous and sincere dialogue with God, and a new openness to praise, worship and offering thanksgiving to him. Worship and praise, which are so characteristic of your gatherings, are essential aspects of Christian prayer, and you have helped them to be rediscovered and brought them back to the forefront in recent years.
The word of God. The renewed outpouring of the Spirit has also led you to a living encounter with Sacred Scripture. The Holy Spirit inspired the revealed word of God and is also the One who keeps it ever alive and active in the Church, causing it to resonate in the hearts of believers, especially in the Liturgy. Scripture has therefore become for you a wonderful source of spiritual nourishment that enlightens and comforts. It is similarly a source of discernment for guiding your daily choices, and gives substance to communal prayer, enabling you to address the Lord with words inspired by God himself.
Communion. The Holy Spirit is the wellspring of communion. In various documents, Pope Leo XIII encouraged Catholics to pray a novena to the Holy Spirit each year between the feasts of Ascension and Pentecost, especially for the intention of Christian unity. You clearly appreciate the significance of this invitation, for you have seen that unity in the Church is the fruit of the Spirit, because, as Saint Augustine affirms, the Holy Spirit “is a certain unutterable communion of the Father and the Son” (De Trinitate, V, 11, 12). It is the Spirit who creates harmony among the various charisms and components of the Charismatic Renewal, as well as with our brothers and sisters of other Christian denominations.
And finally, charity. Saint Augustine wrote that the Holy Spirit “who is himself love, has been given to man and inflames him to the love of God and neighbor. For man can have no love for God unless he be given it from God” (De Trinitate, XV, 17, 31). This is what you, too, have experienced. The renewed presence of the Spirit has awakened in you a new capacity to love, inspired by divine charity itself. This love is directed toward God and toward your brothers and sisters, and inspires closeness and compassion, especially for those who are suffering. Many works of charity for those in need, both in spirit and in body, have sprung from the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. I invite you, then, to keep alive this love for the poor, which reveals the true face of God.
Dear friends, I thank you for your commitment and encourage you to continue your mission. Put yourselves at the service of the dioceses and parishes, offering your experience and methods of evangelization. Faithfully follow the guidance of your priests; and, in your communal discernment, listen to the voices of wise people, even if they do not belong to your groups. Cultivate harmony and cooperation among the communities to which you belong, taking care never to give way to the desire for self-promotion, or the pursuit of power or personal prestige. May the Holy Spirit always be a light and a source of strength on your personal and communal journey, and may the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, protect you. And now, with these heartfelt sentiments, I willingly impart my Apostolic Blessing.
Thank you.
