(Vatican Radio) In the Paul VI Audience Hall before his General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis met with the Bishop Friends of the Focolare Movement.
Founded in Italy in 1943 by Chiara Lubich, the Focolare, also known as the Work of Mary, is an ecclesial movement that promotes the ideals of unity and universal brotherhood. Since 1977, a number of Bishops who desired to live out the spirituality of communion promoted by Focolare, have gathered together as the Bishop Friends of the Movement. The Bishop Friends hold regular meetings at international and regional levels.
Listen to Christopher Wells’ report:
In his address to the Bishops, Pope Francis called to mind the theme of their current meeting: “The Eucharist, Mystery of Communion.” He said, “the charism of unity proper to the Work of Mary is strongly anchored in the Eucharist, which gives it its Christian and ecclesial character.” It is the work of the Bishop to gather the community “around the Eucharist, around the double table of the Word and of the Bread of Life.” This, the Pope said, “is our service, and it is a fundamental one.”
Pope Francis said, “the Bishop is the principle of unity in the Church, but this does not take place without the Eucharist: the Bishop does not gather the people around his own person or his own ideas, but around Christ present in His Word and in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood.” When the Bishop is conformed to Christ, “nourished with faith in Christ the living Bread,” he is “is urged on by his love to give his life for the brothers and sisters, to go out, to go to meet those who are marginalized and despised.”
The Holy Father had special words of greeting for those Bishops present who had come from “the blood-soaked lands” of Iraq, Syria, and Ukraine. “In the suffering you have lived with your people,” he said, “you experience the strength that comes from the Eucharistic Jesus, the strength of going forward united in faith and hope.” He assured the Bishops the Church is united to them in the daily celebration of the Mass.
Concluding his address, Pope Francis encouraged the Bishops to carry on their “commitment in favour of the ecumenical journey and inter-religious dialogue” and thanked them for the contributions they make “to a greater communion between the various ecclesial movements.”
Below please find the full text of the Pope’s address to the Bishop Friends of the Focolare Movement:
Dear brothers,
I welcome you, and I thank Cardinal Kovithavanij for his introduction. And I thank the President and Co-President of the Focolare Movement for their presence.
You have brought together in Rome the friendship with this Movement and an interest in the “spirituality of communion.” In particular, in these days your reflection has centred on the theme of “The Eucharist, Mystery of Communion.”
In effect, the charism of unity proper to the Work of Mary is strongly anchored in the Eucharist, which gives it its Christian and ecclesial character. Without the Eucharist, unity would lose its divine pole of attraction, and would be reduced to simply human, psychological, sociological feeling and dynamic. Instead, the Eucharist guarantees that at the centre there is Christ, and there is His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, to move our steps and our initiatives of encounter and of communion.
The Apostle Paul writes: “Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf” (1 Cor 10:17). As Bishops, we gather the communities around the Eucharist, the double table of the Word and of the Bread of Life. This is our service, and it is fundamental. The Bishop is the principle of unity in the Church, but this does not take place without the Eucharist: the Bishop does not gather the people around his own person or his own ideas, but around Christ present in His Word and in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. And in the school of Jesus, the Good Shepherd made Himself the Lamb sacrificed and risen, the Bishop gathers the sheep entrusted to him with the offering of his life, himself taking on a form of Eucharistic existence. And so the Bishop, conformed to Christ, becomes a living Gospel, becomes Bread broken for the life of many with his preaching and his witness. He who is nourished with faith in Christ the living Bread is urged on by his love to give his life for the brothers and sisters, to go out, to go to meet those who are marginalized and despised.
In a particular way I thank you, Brothers, who come from the blood-soaked lands of Syria and of Iraq, and also of Ukraine. In the suffering you have lived with your people, you experience the strength that comes from the Eucharistic Jesus, the strength of going forward united in faith and hope.
In the daily celebration of the Mass we are united to you, we pray for you offering the Sacrifice of Christ; and from it the many initiatives of solidarity in favour of your Churches gain their strength and significance.
Dear Brothers, I encourage you to carry on your commitment in favour of the ecumenical journey and inter-religious dialogue. And I thank you for the contribution you make to a greater communion between the various ecclesial movements.
May the Lord bless you and the Madonna protect you. Let us pray for one another. I thank you for your prayers.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) In the Paul VI Audience Hall before his General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis met with the Bishop Friends of the Focolare Movement. Founded in Italy in 1943 by Chiara Lubich, the Focolare, also known as the Work of Mary, is an ecclesial movement that promotes the ideals of unity and universal brotherhood.…
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(Vatican Radio) In the Paul VI Audience Hall before his General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis met with the Bishop Friends of the Focolare Movement. Founded in Italy in 1943 by Chiara Lubich, the Focolare, also known as the Work of Mary, is an ecclesial movement that promotes the ideals of unity and universal brotherhood.…
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(Vatican Radio) The official programme for Pope Francis’ visit to Pompeii and Naples was published Tuesday by the Vatican Press Office.
The one-day visit scheduled for Saturday, 21 March will begin at 7am in the Vatican where the Pope will board a helicopter that will take him to the Shrine of Pompeii where he will gather in prayer.
Listen to Christopher Wells’ report:
At 9am Pope Francis is due to arrive in Scampia, an impoverished area close to Naples where he will meet with the community in the John Paul II Square.
Midmorning sees the Pope celebrating Mass in Naples’ central Piazza del Plebiscito.
A special moment will be dedicated to prison inmates when the Pope travels to the “Giuseppe Salvia” Detention Centre in Poggioreale where he will also share lunch with some of the detainees.
In the early afternoon he is scheduled to venerate the relics of Saint Gennaro and meet with the clergy, the religious and the deacons in the city’s main Cathedral.
Before departing for the Vatican at approximately 6pm, Pope Francis will visit some sick people in the Basilica del Gesù and will meet a group of young people at a venue on the Caracciolo sea-front.
He will travel back to the Vatican by helicopter.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The official programme for Pope Francis’ visit to Pompeii and Naples was published Tuesday by the Vatican Press Office. The one-day visit scheduled for Saturday, 21 March will begin at 7am in the Vatican where the Pope will board a helicopter that will take him to the Shrine of Pompeii where he will…
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