Pope Francis receives members of the Focolare Movement on Saturday in the Paul VI hall, at the close of the General Assembly.
Vatican News staff reporter
During this week’s General Assembly, members of the Focolare Movement discussed a number of key issues and chose new leaders.
At the end of the meeting, Pope Francis addressed words of thanks on Saturday to the outgoing president, Maria Voce, and the newly elected president, Margaret Karram.
He also offered the Movement some reflections, to “encourage them on their way”.
He divided these reflections into three points: the post-founding era; the importance of crises and living spirituality with coherence and realism.
Openness and dialogue
Speaking about the post-founding period, the Pope recalled that twelve years after the death of Chiara Lubich, the Movement is called to overcome this “natural loss and even the decrease in numbers to continue to be a living expression of the foundational charism. “
This, he said, required “a dynamic fidelity, capable of interpreting the signs and needs of the times and responding to the new demands of humanity”. Pope Francis added, it is also a question of “staying true to the original source, striving to rethink it and express it in dialogue with new social and cultural situations”.
This work of renewal, he said, “is all the more fruitful the more it is accomplished by harmonizing creativity, wisdom, sensitivity to all and fidelity to the Church”.
The Pope went on to say that “openness to others, whoever they may be, must always be cultivated: the Gospel is for everyone, it is the leaven of new humanity in all places and times”.
Facing problems
However, the Pope also had words of warning, advising against recollection itself, which, he said, “always leads to defend the institution at the expense of individuals, and which can also lead to justify or cover up forms of abuse” .
Instead, Pope Francis continued, “It is better to be brave and face problems with parity and truth, always following the Church’s directions.”
A call to new maturity
Focusing his attention on the second theme, “the importance of crises”, the Pope stressed that “every crisis is an appeal to a new maturity; it is a time of the Spirit, which raises the need for updating, without being discouraged by human complexity and its contradictions ”.
“It is the duty of government officials, at all levels, to work to deal with community and organizational crises in the best and most constructive way possible, he said.
Addressing in particular people’s spiritual crises, which involve the individual’s intimacy and the sphere of conscience, Pope Francis noted that they “must be faced with prudence by those who do not occupy government positions, at all levels, within the Movement. . . ”
“This is a good rule that applies not only to people’s moments of crisis, but in general to accompanying the spiritual path,” said the Pope.
Outside and inside
Reflecting on his third point, “to live his spirituality with coherence and realism,” Pope Francis told those present, “the ultimate goal of his charism coincides with the intention that Jesus presented to the Father in his last and greatest prayer: that ‘all may be one ‘, knowing full well that it is the work of the grace of the One and Triune God ”. This intention, he explained, “requires a commitment from a double perspective: outside the Movement and within it”.
With regard to acting externally, said the Pope, “I encourage you to be … witnesses of the closeness to brotherly love that overcomes all barriers and reaches all human conditions”
On his commitment within the Movement, he continued: “I urge you to promote synodality more and more, so that all members, as depositaries of the same charism, are co-responsible and participate in the life of the Work of Mary and its specific objectives. “
Turning pain into hope
In conclusion, the Pope invited those present to imitate his founder Chiara Lubich, always hearing “the cry of abandonment of Christ on the cross, which expresses the greatest measure of love”.
The grace that comes from it, he added, “is capable of eliciting in us, weak and sinful, generous and sometimes heroic responses; it is capable of transforming suffering and even tragedy into a source of light and hope for humanity. In this passage from death to life is the heart of Christianity and also of its charism ”.