The Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, announced on October 31, 2018, that on December 8, 2018, the Holy See will erect a body providing a new, single, international service for the needs of Catholic Charismatic Renewal in the Church. At the same date, the statutes of this body will be approved, ad experimentum. This body, requested on several occasions by the Holy Father Pope Francis, will be called CHARIS, and will operate in favor of all expressions of the current of grace that is Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
As a body in the service of all the realities of Catholic Charismatic Renewal, CHARIS will not exercise any authority over these realities. Each charismatic reality will remain as it is, fully respected its own identity, and under the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical authority upon which it currently depends. However, to help fulfil its own mission, each of these realities will be able to benefit freely from the many services CHARIS will provide. Indeed, providing these services is CHARIS’ fundamental objective.
After the erection of CHARIS and the approval of its statutes ad experimentum, the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life will appoint CHARIS’ Moderator, its Ecclesiastical Assistant and the eighteen members of its International Service of Communion, for a first mandate of three years. The names of these persons are as follows:
Moderator: Dr. Jean-Luc Moens (Belgium)
Members of the International Service of Communion:
North America and the Caribbean (English or French speaking): Most. Rev. Bishop Peter Leslie Smith (United States)
North America and the Caribbean (Spanish speaking): Mr. Andrés Arango (United States)
Central America (Spanish speaking): Mrs. María Eugenia de Góngora (Guatemala)
South America (Spanish speaking): Mr. Pino Scafuro (Argentina)
South America (Portuguese speaking): Mrs. Gabriella Marcia da Rocha Días (Brazil)
Asia: Mr. Cyril John (India)
Asia: Rev. Br. James Shin San-Hyun (South Korea)
Africa (French speaking): Mr. Jean-Christophe Sakiti (Togo
Africa (English speaking): Mr. Fred Mawanda (Uganda)
Europe: Mr. Paolo Maino (Italy)
Europe: Rev. Deacon Etienne Mellot (France)
Oceania: Mr. Shayne Bennett (Australia)
Diverse Catholic Charismatic Renewal ministries: Mr. José Prado Flores (Mexico)
Charismatic priest or religious: Rev. Fr. Etienne Vetö (United States)
Communities: Mr. Jean Barbara (Lebanon)
Communities: Rev. Deacon Johannes Fichtenbauer (Austria)
Associations with Holy See recognition: Mr. François Prouteau (France)
Young Catholic under 30 years old: Ms. Giulia Rancan (Italia)
Ecclesiastical Assistant: Rev. Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap.(Italy)
The above-mentioned persons will assume their functions at the Solemnity of Pentecost 2019, day upon which CHARIS’ statutes will come into effect. At the same date, the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service and the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowships will cease to exist. The patrimony of these two bodies will be transferred to CHARIS, in order to provide this new body with the financial means necessary to undertake the mission intended for it by the Holy Father.
