The Pope gave his support to the Rinnovamento nello Spirito Santo project in a message written by his secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. The message was read at the movement’s 34th national convention last week.
The family center in Nazareth is scheduled to be completed in 2012.
Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, archbishop of Genoa and president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, also sent a message to the convention.
“Your meeting is a school of prayer,” he wrote, indicating that the event is unfolding “in the heart of the ecclesial experience, called to give unceasing praise to God and to intercede for the salvation of the world.”
Meanwhile the president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Cardinal Stanislaw Ryłko, urged the movement toward a “renewed missionary drive” so that it might “offer to the world that love of God for man that you are called to give.”
There are more than 200,000 Renewal in the Spirit members in Italy, organized into 1,900 groups and communities.
