The Pope's teachings in the last month find a special orientation in the Solemnity of Pentecost. As on the first Pentecost in history, the Church returns each year to gather around the Virgin Mary to prepare herself for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And like every year, this one too, while celebrating the same thing, always brings new gifts.
The Prayer Vigil, held in Rome's Circus Maximus, allowed the Pope to thank God for the 50th anniversary of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, "a current of grace of the Spirit," and to recall the example of the martyrs of the present time in order to point out once again the task that the Holy Spirit is setting for the Church today: "Today the unity of Christians, united by the power of the Holy Spirit, in prayer and action for the weakest, is more urgent than ever. To walk together, to work together. To love one another. The Holy Spirit makes the disciples a new people, whose members receive a new heart. To each one he gives a gift and gathers them all together in unity. The new people created by the Spirit is characterized by both diversity and unity. To walk together requires overcoming two frequent temptations: to seek diversity without unity, and to seek unity without diversity. The interventions of Francis in the month of June can well be reviewed by noticing the balance between unity and diversity, pillars of the communion that sustains the missionary commitment.
On Pentecost, the Pope wanted to make public the Message for the next World Mission Sunday. In a world confused by so many illusions, wounded by great frustrations and fratricidal wars that unjustly affect especially the innocent, Francis invites us to ask ourselves about the foundation of mission, its center and its vital attitudes. On the Solemnities of the Most Holy Trinity, of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, and of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he has shown us the source and summit of Christian life, the beginning and end of ecclesial communion. "In the fragmentation of life, the Lord comes to meet us with the loving fragility that is the Eucharist," the sacrament of unity. In his Wednesday Audience catecheses on hope, Francis proposes the prayer of the Our Father as a "wellspring of hope," the medicine of God's love to overcome the wound of discouragement and the discreet company of the saints, whose existence assures us that Christian life is not an unattainable ideal, but is possible with grace.
Addressing the plenary session of the Congregation for the Clergy, Francis praised the new Ratio fundamentalis as a document that offers the keys to an integral priestly formation. With special concern the Pope referred to young priests, encouraging them and asking the bishops to show them paternal closeness. Francis gives them three pieces of advice: pray without tiring, walk always and share with the heart.
Recognizing the witness of two parish priests, Primo Mazzolari and Lorenzo Milani, was the main reason for the intense apostolic visit to Bozzolo (Diocese of Cremona) and Barbiana (Diocese of Florence). To renew the ardor and passion of the Church's missionary action, the Pope has announced to the Pontifical Mission Societies the dedication in autumn 2019 of an extraordinary time of prayer and reflection on the mission ad gentes. With the members of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Francis reflected on three points: valuing the role of women, educating to fraternity and dialogue. "In today's complex society, characterized by plurality and globalization, there is a need for greater recognition of the capacity of women to educate to universal fraternity." "Widening the spaces for a stronger feminine presence" is part of the urgent unity that the Holy Spirit urges in the Church.
Degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Santiago de Compostela. Professor of Ecclesiology and Pastoral Theology in the Department of Systematic Theology at the University of Navarra.
