Pope Francis Welcomes CHARIS
Pope Francis welcomed CHARIS, the new one service for Catholic Charismatic
Renewal, at Pentecost 2019 in Rome.
On Saturday 8 June, Pope Francis greeted members of the newly-formed
Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service (CHARIS) in the Paul VI hall who took part in an International Conference in the Vatican.
"This Pentecost begins a new stage on the journey inaugurated by the Charismatic Renewal fifty-two years ago."
The new service is called CHARIS and the Pope thanked the Dicastery for Laity, Family for making it a reality.
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In his address, the Pope alluded to the fact that they were embarking on "a new and unique service of communion." He said that, at times, what is new can be destabilizing, but then added: "The new things of God are always a blessing because they flow from his loving heart."
The Pontiff invited those gathered to embrace the new, stressing that the temptation "to leave things as they are" was not a way of thinking that came from the Holy Spirit.
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The Pope explained that the notion of "service" meant always giving and caring "for a variety of needs and to assist the journey in the best way possible."
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Pope Francis underlined what he and the Church expected from this new service, CHARIS, and from the entire Charismatic Renewal: to share baptism in the Holy Spirit with everyone in the Church, and to serve the unity of the body of Christ, which is the Church. He also said they were called to serve the poor and those in greatest need, physical or spiritual.
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He added that these three things were "forms of witness which, by virtue of baptism, all of us are called to give for the evangelization of the world." It is an evangelization, Pope Francis stressed, "that is not proselytism, but first and foremost witness: a witness of love."
