Pope Francis completes 11 years of pontificate, we want to remember some of his words that echo in the identity and mission of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
You, the charismatic renewal, have received a great gift from the Lord. Your movement’s birth was willed by the Holy Spirit to be “a current of grace in the Church and for the Church”. This is your identity: to be a current of grace. (1 June 2014)
This is your path: evangelization, spiritual ecumenism, caring for the poor and needy, and welcoming the marginalized. And all of it is based on worship! The foundation of the renewal is worshiping God! (1 June 2014)
We have assembled here from 120 countries throughout the world, to celebrate the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit in the Church that occurred fifty years ago and started… an institution? No. An organization? No. A flood of grace, the flood of grace of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. A work that was born… Catholic? No. It was born ecumenical! It was born ecumenical because it is the Holy Spirit who creates unity, and the same Spirit who granted the inspiration for this. (3 June 2017)
This flood of grace is for the whole Church, not just for some, and none of us is the “master” and the others servants.No.We are all servants of this flood of grace. (3 June 2017)
Baptism in the Holy Spirit, unity in the body of Christ and service to the poor are the forms of witness that, by virtue of baptism, all of us are called to give for the evangelization of the world. An evangelization that is not proselytism but first and foremost witness: a witness of love. “See how they love one another”. That was what impressed those who encountered the first Christians. (8 June 2019)
One goal that you are proposing, and which I myself have encouraged, is to expand the “Life in the Spirit Seminars” in all places and for everyone. These are truly kerygmatic moments, opportunities for the “initial proclamation” of the Gospel. They make it possible for people to encounter the living Jesus, in his word and his Spirit, and at the same time to experience his Church as a welcoming environment, a place of grace, reconciliation and rebirth. That is why I have encouraged you to make these Seminars more widely available. (4 November 2023)
