At 9:00am this morning, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience, in the Paul VI Hall, participants taking part in the 38th Convention of the Bishops, Friends of Focolare, which is being held from March 3 to 6 at Castelgandolfo. Along with 60 bishops from 35 countries, there were also present a this meeting, the Present of the Focolare Movement, Maria Voce; and the Vice-President, Jesús Morán.
After some words of greeting from Cardinal Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij, the Archbishop of Bangkok (Thailand), the Pope spoke to the group that was gathered.
Dear brothers,
I welcome you and thank Cardinal Kovithavanji for his introduction. I also thank the President and the Vice-President of the Focolare Movement for their presence.
Here in Rome, we are gathered in friendship with this Movement and with a special interest in the spirituality of communion. In particular, during these days, your reflection is centred on the theme: The Eucharist: a ministry of communion.
In fact, the charism of unity which belongs to the Works of Mary are strongly based in the Eucharist which gives it its Christian and ecclesial character. Without the Eucharist, unity would lose the strength of its divine attraction and would be reduced to a sentiment and a merely human , psychological or sociological dynamic. Instead, the Eucharist guarantees that Christ is always at the centre of everything we do, and that his Spirit, the Holy Spirit is the one who inspires our steps and initiatives to meet together and to live in communion with one another.
The apostle Paul wrote: Just as there is one loaf, so we, although we are many, are one body, for we all share in the one loaf (1 Cor 10:17). As Bishops, we gather communities around the Eucharist, the two tables 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 happen without the Eucharist: the Bishop does not gather the people around himself, around his own ideas, but around Christ who is present in his Word and in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. At the school of Jesus, the good Shepherd who became the Lamb which was sacrificed and then rose to new life, the Bishop gathers the flock entrusted to him through the offering of his own life, assuming himself a eucharistic form. In this way, the Bishop, conformed to Christ, becomes the living gospel, becomes Bread that is broken for the life of many through his preaching and his witness. Anyone who is nourished with the faith of Christ, the living Bread, is motivated by his love to share this life with his brothers and sisters, to go out toward others, especially those who are marginalized and despised.
I wish to thank you especially, brothers who have come from the suffering lands of Syria and Iraq, as well as from Ukraine. In the suffering that your people are experiencing, you are also witnessing the strength that comes from Jesus in the Eucharist, the strength to go on, united in faith and in hope.
In the daily celebration of the Mass, we are united to you, we pray for you, offering the Sacrifice of Christ; and from that point, we draw strength and meaning also from the many initiatives of solidarity in support of your Churches.
Dear brothers, I encourage you to continue your commitment to the ecumenical journey and to inter-religious dialogue ... and I thank you for the contribution you give toward the building of greater communion between the various ecclesial movements.
May the Lord bless you and may the Madonna protect you. Pray for one another ... and thank you for your prayers.
After some words of greeting from Cardinal Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij, the Archbishop of Bangkok (Thailand), the Pope spoke to the group that was gathered.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the meeting with Friends of Focolare
Dear brothers,
I welcome you and thank Cardinal Kovithavanji for his introduction. I also thank the President and the Vice-President of the Focolare Movement for their presence.
Here in Rome, we are gathered in friendship with this Movement and with a special interest in the spirituality of communion. In particular, during these days, your reflection is centred on the theme: The Eucharist: a ministry of communion.
In fact, the charism of unity which belongs to the Works of Mary are strongly based in the Eucharist which gives it its Christian and ecclesial character. Without the Eucharist, unity would lose the strength of its divine attraction and would be reduced to a sentiment and a merely human , psychological or sociological dynamic. Instead, the Eucharist guarantees that Christ is always at the centre of everything we do, and that his Spirit, the Holy Spirit is the one who inspires our steps and initiatives to meet together and to live in communion with one another.
The apostle Paul wrote: Just as there is one loaf, so we, although we are many, are one body, for we all share in the one loaf (1 Cor 10:17). As Bishops, we gather communities around the Eucharist, the two tables 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 happen without the Eucharist: the Bishop does not gather the people around himself, around his own ideas, but around Christ who is present in his Word and in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. At the school of Jesus, the good Shepherd who became the Lamb which was sacrificed and then rose to new life, the Bishop gathers the flock entrusted to him through the offering of his own life, assuming himself a eucharistic form. In this way, the Bishop, conformed to Christ, becomes the living gospel, becomes Bread that is broken for the life of many through his preaching and his witness. Anyone who is nourished with the faith of Christ, the living Bread, is motivated by his love to share this life with his brothers and sisters, to go out toward others, especially those who are marginalized and despised.
I wish to thank you especially, brothers who have come from the suffering lands of Syria and Iraq, as well as from Ukraine. In the suffering that your people are experiencing, you are also witnessing the strength that comes from Jesus in the Eucharist, the strength to go on, united in faith and in hope.
In the daily celebration of the Mass, we are united to you, we pray for you, offering the Sacrifice of Christ; and from that point, we draw strength and meaning also from the many initiatives of solidarity in support of your Churches.
Dear brothers, I encourage you to continue your commitment to the ecumenical journey and to inter-religious dialogue ... and I thank you for the contribution you give toward the building of greater communion between the various ecclesial movements.
May the Lord bless you and may the Madonna protect you. Pray for one another ... and thank you for your prayers.
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