At the end of his address to the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) in Rome earlier this month, Pope Francis said, “If someone were to ask me, ‘Give me a sign – what makes the life of renewal in a person genuine?’ what comes to mind is that people who experience renewal thoroughly know how to smile. They know how to smile.”
This is how I can describe the faces of the thousands of people I saw recently in Rome for the various events I attended of the Worldwide Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
In June 2019, Pope Francis established CHARIS (Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service) to serve this current of grace throughout the world. It began a process to form the continental and national services of communion in each country; logically, the COVID pandemic slowed this process, but after these worldwide difficulties, the first worldwide CHARIS Assembly was held at the end of October 2023. More than 160 participants were invited from all over the world. It was great to see the wonderful things the Holy Spirit is doing in every part of the world. These were days of prayer, fellowship, reflection, planning and election of the new International Service of Communion. Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, Ecclesiastical Assistant of CHARIS, and Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, were present at the assembly.
In the days following the assembly, there was a meeting of the 18 members of the new CHARIS International Service of Communion, in which I have the blessing to serve as the representative of the North American and Caribbean Spanish-speaking. Bishop Peter Smith, auxiliary in the Archdiocese of Portland, was replaced by Msgr. Joseph Malagreca from the Diocese of Brooklyn as the representative of the North American and Caribbean English-speaking. Several commissions were formed to better serve the CCR worldwide, including prayer groups, communities, intercession, youth, and priests and religious.
The event “Called, Transformed and Sent” took place in early November. There were more than 2,500 participants. Initially, the event was intended for students who have completed the two-year online formation program for the CCR. However, the event was later open to everyone. On the first day, several workshops were held in three basilicas around Rome. I had the blessing of being the keynote speaker in the Basilica of St. Andrew of the Valley, where I discussed the identity of the charismatic prayer groups. It was an amazing experience to praise God with hundreds of people gathered from around the world. The day concluded with a very lively Mass presided by an Argentinean priest who coordinates a weekly charismatic prayer group in Saint Anne Church inside the Vatican.
The last two days of the event took place in the Paul VI Audience Hall. Several speakers, including Nicky Gumbel (an English Anglican priest and founder of the Alpha teaching program); Father James Mallon (founder of Divine Renovation, which helps parishes with mission), and Patti Mansfield (CCR pioneer) spoke on various topics related to charismatic spirituality. One of the highlights of the event was the teaching from Cardinal Cantalamessa in which he reminded everyone about the three expectations of CCR’s mission that Pope Francis gave to us in 2019: to share the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the whole Church; to work for unity (including unity among Christians) and to serve the poor.
One of the most gratifying moments was when Cardinal Cantalamessa acknowledged the great pastoral contribution of the CCR to the Church, stating, “The success of a mission can no longer be measured by the number of confessions heard and communions distributed, but by how many people have gone from being nominal Christians to real Christians, that is, convinced and active in the community. And this is the most evident contribution that the Charismatic Renewal intends to make – and, in a modest way, does – from the pastoral point of view.”
After Pope Francis’ address to the participants, the event concluded with a concert in several languages by CCR youth groups from around the world. Pope Francis reminded us: “The particular service that CHARIS can offer is that of promoting charisms and encouraging them to be placed at the service of the whole Church.”
Pope Francis has not only motivated CCR in our mission, but he has also given us a model of how to do it. For this reason, at the end of the event, he greeted three groups of people: the members of the International Service of Communion (representing the worldwide CCR); a group of Protestant pastors (motivating everyone to work for spiritual ecumenism), and a group of homeless people from the streets of Rome who sang for him.
It was providential that when I returned from Rome, we had our diocesan Hispanic Charismatic Conference, in which we motivated the more than 400 participants to live the identity of this current of grace in South Jersey, especially fulfilling the call of Pope Francis and being sure –as Cardinal Cantalamessa expressed – to bring people to a personal transformative encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Andrés Arango is Bishop’s Delegate for Hispanic Ministry and director of evangelization for the Diocese of Camden.
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