Spirited Communicators of the
Gospel Are Needed, Pope Says
In a Message to Italian Charismatics at Annual Congress
RIMINI, Italy, MAY 3, 2004 (Zenit.org).-
In a message sent to a meeting of charismatic renewal Catholics, John
Paul II highlighted the need for people "who are able to
communicate the fascination of the Gospel."
This year's annual congress of Italy's branch of the charismatic
movement, Renewal in the Spirit (RnS), attracted 25,000 members to
Rimini on Sunday. The meeting focused on prayer and evangelization.
In his message, sent through Bishop Mariano de Nicolo of Rimini, the
Pope said: "My heartfelt wish is that Renewal in the Spirit will
increasingly inspire inner conversion in the Church, without which man
will hardly be able to resist the seductions of the flesh and the
concupiscence of the world."
Our time "has great need of men and women who, like rays of
light, are able to communicate the fascination of the Gospel and the
beauty of the new life in the Spirit," the Holy Father states.
He says that one must respond to the Gospel of Christ "with the
boldness of faith, which is the mother of all miracles of love, with
the firm trust that makes us pray to God for all goods for the
salvation of our souls."
"Each one, therefore, as a true disciple of Jesus, must apply
himself tirelessly to following his teachings, making the way of
spiritual renewal itself a permanent school of conversion and
holiness," John Paul II exhorts.
"To be witnesses of the 'reasons of the Spirit' -- this is your
mission, dear members of Renewal in the Spirit, in a society where
often human reason does not seem to be penetrated with the wisdom that
comes from on High," he adds.
Among those invited to the RnS annual congress were Cardinal Giovanni
Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops; Cardinal Francis
Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Sacraments; and Father Raniero Cantalamessa, Papal Household preacher.
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