Pope to Charismatic Renewal: Let Spirit lead you to communion, charity, mission

Pope Leo XIV welcomed representatives of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal to the Vatican on Saturday. Greeting members of communities, prayer groups, and evangelization schools from around the world, as well as leaders of CHARIS, the international service body of the Renewal, the Pope described the movement's spiritual vitality as one of the gifts with which God has blessed the Church.

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal was founded in the late 1960s and today encompasses prayer groups, communities, and evangelization initiatives across the world.

It places particular emphasis on the action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers through prayer, worship, Scripture and missionary outreach. Since 2019, the various expressions of the Renewal have been brought together through CHARIS, established by Pope Francis to foster communion and service.

Reflecting on the movement's development in the decades following the Second Vatican Council, Pope Leo recalled the appreciation shown by his predecessors.

He noted that Saint Paul VI saw in the Renewal a response to the growing secularization of society, while Pope St. John Paul II highlighted its missionary impulse and Pope Benedict XVI praised its emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The Pope also recalled Pope Francis' description of the Renewal as a "flood of grace" intended for the entire Church.

Expressing his desire to strengthen the relationship between the See of Peter and the worldwide family of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, Pope Leo reflected on five key dimensions of its spiritual experience: baptism in the Spirit, prayer of praise, the Word of God, communion, and charity.

Beginning with baptism in the Spirit, he said the shared journey of faith within the Renewal has its source in "the personal experience of the Holy Spirit," which enables the grace of Baptism to become effective in the lives of believers and leads them to a deeper awareness of God's love.

The Pope explained that through this encounter, "God ceased to be a mere idea and became the real and ultimate expression of fatherhood."

The Holy Spirit, he said, brings reconciliation, peace and freedom, while opening believers to hope and to the certainty that nothing can separate them from the love of Christ.

"From this experience of the Holy Spirit comes the inner desire to be witnesses and heralds of his love," he said, as he encouraged members of the Renewal to bring God's consolation to those suffering from loneliness and emptiness.