Movements

A Work of the Spirit
The Pope’s message and notes from the addresses of Cardinals Schönborn, Ouellet and Scola at the Second World Congress of Ecclesial Movements and New Communities. Rocca di Papa, Italy, May 31-June 2, 2006

edited by Alberto Savorana

The Second World Congress of Ecclesial Movements and New Communities took place at Rocca di Papa from May 31 to June 2, 2006. It was entitled, The Beauty of Being Christian and the Joy of Communicating It, re-proposing the Pope’s words in the homily at the beginning of his Petrine ministry, April 24, 2005. It opened with the reading of a lengthy message from Benedict XVI. There were 300 people present, representing 100 Catholic realities from all over the world, in preparation for the great meeting with the Pope on June 3rd in St. Peter’s Square, on the eve of Pentecost, in which 400,000 people took part.
The composition of the Congress presented, apart from the more well-known movements, a huge number of new communities characterized by two elements: a strong passionate bond with Benedict XVI, looked on as a sure point of reference for one’s own life of faith; and the need for an education in order to deepen the reasons for that faith, so that the initial wonder may develop as conviction.
This showed how much this multiform reality of movements and new communities needs to be guided, and the Pontifical Council for the Laity is called to give this guidance, by the Pope’s mandate. In his encyclical letter, the Pope recalls the nature of Christianity, which is not primarily a question of words or ethics, but “the event of an encounter” (Deus Caritas Est) that brings a change in life.
During the first Congress of the movements, Cardinal Ratzinger (as he was then) gave an address on the theme “Ecclesial Movements and Their Theological Placement.” Eight years later, he addresses the assembly with all the authority of a Pope. He invites them to reflect “on what the essential features of the Christian event are–in fact, we encounter in it the One who in flesh and blood visibly and historically brought to earth the splendor of God’s glory.”
In an age in which man’s reason is gravely threatened by relativism and nihilism, the Pope observes that “Christ is made present in the hearts of men and women and attracts them to their vocation which is love. It is thanks to this extraordinary magnetic force that reason is drawn from its torpor and opened to the Mystery.” This, the Pope continues, “has set a vast number of people in ‘motion.’ […] Christ still continues today to make resound in the hearts of so many that ‘Come, follow me’ which can decide their destiny. This normally happens through the witness of those who have had a personal experience of Christ’s presence.”
The message continues with an appeal to the movements: “Bring Christ’s light to all the social and cultural milieus in which you live… Dispel the darkness of a world overwhelmed by the contradictory messages of ideologies!” The Pope invites them to “take the witness of the freedom with which Christ set us free to this troubled world. The extraordinary fusion between love of God and love of neighbor makes life beautiful and causes the desert in which we often find ourselves living to blossom anew. Where love is expressed as a passion for the life and destiny of others, where love shines forth in affection and in work and becomes a force for the construction of a more just social order, there the civilization is built that can withstand the advance of barbarity.”
This is certainly not an invitation to retire from the world to follow a vague religiosity or a disincarnate spirituality, but rather to full participation in the events of earthly life in a “missionary zeal,” which means communicating to others the beauty of Christianity that changes the world. Benedict XVI concludes by reminding the movements and the new communities: “You belong to the living structure of the Church. She thanks you for your missionary commitment, for the formative action [...] and for the promotion of vocations,” and also “for your readiness not only to accept the active directives of the Successor of Peter, but also of the bishops of the various local Churches.”