The Pope sent that message today to the spiritual assistants of Italy’s Catholic Action, gathered in Rome for a congress on the theme “Renew Catholic Action in the Parish.”
“Only a renewed Catholic Action can contribute to renew the parish,” the Pope said, encouraging the spiritual assistants to also renew their own priestly ministry.
Real renewal of Catholic Action can come about if there is a “humble audacity” to fix one’s gaze on Jesus, “who makes all things new,” the Holy Father said.
“The indispensable structural and organizational renewal will be the result of a singular adventure of the Spirit, which entails the inner and radical conversions of persons and associations at various levels: parish, diocesan and national,” he said.
The “contribution that Italian Catholic Action can make to the Christian community” is a spirituality of communion, lived with the bishop and the local Church, he added. In fact, this must precede the planning of all concrete initiatives, the Pope concluded.
