Do not manipulate the immature, Pope tells members of new ecclesial movements
November 24, 2014
Pope Francis received participants in the Third World Congress of Ecclesial Movements and New Communities on November 22 and urged them continually to turn to their founding charism and not to manipulate the immature for the sake of increasing membership.
“First, it is necessary to preserve the freshness of your charism,” he said during the audience, which took place in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace. “As time goes by, there is a greater temptation to become comfortable, to become hardened in set ways of doing things, which, while reassuring, are nonetheless sterile … If forms and methods become ends in themselves, they become ideological, removed from reality which is constantly developing, closed to the newness of the Spirit, such rigid forms and methods will eventually stifle the very charism which gave them life.”
Calling upon the members of new movements to “respect the freedom of each person,” Pope Francis said that
we are part of a wounded humanity-- and we must be honest in saying this-- in which all of the educational institutions, especially the most important one, the family, are experiencing grave difficulties almost everywhere in the world. Men and women today experience serious identity problems and have difficulty making proper choices; as a result, they tend to be conditioned and to delegate important decisions about their own lives to others.
We need to resist the temptation of usurping individual freedom, of directing them without allowing for their growth in genuine maturity. Every person has their own time, their own path, and we must accompany this journey. Moral or spiritual progress which manipulates a person’s immaturity is only an apparent success, and one destined to fail. It is better to achieve less and move forward without seeking attention.
The Pontiff also emphasized the importance of ecclesial communion, stating that “for the world to believe that Jesus is Lord, it needs to see communion among Christians. If, on the other hand, the world sees divisions, rivalries, backbiting, the terrorism of gossip, please… if these things are seen, regardless of the cause, how can we evangelize?”
“Real communion cannot exist in movements or in new communities unless these are integrated within the greater communion of our Holy Mother, the hierarchical Church,” he added.
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