Pope Francis Chastises Charismatic Movement

"There are no leaders for life in the Church"

(Rome) Pope Francis attended a meeting of 3 July Rinnovamento in Spirito, the largest charismatic community in the Catholic Church. The meeting took place at St. Peter's Square. The Pope said in his address to the 35,000 attendees that there should be in the Church no offices for life. In reporting some Catholic and secular media had the impression that the Pope had talked about the Petrine ministry and thus stimulated talk about a time limit or age limit. One issue that was introduced in 2013 by the unexpected resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.

Despite its imprecise partly spontaneous wording  the Catholic Church's head's address referred explicitly to offices of the Charismatic Renewal. At the beginning of this heading of his speech, Pope Francis spoke of it being "very important", in "another item" to clarify "in this flow of grace", a formulation with which he addressed those in St. Peter's Square about the Charismatics in the Catholic Church. The Pope did not say what  specifically led him to this admonition.  (more...)

Pope Francis Chastises Charismatic Movement