On February 27, 2014, Pope Francis held a special meeting with Bishops who are friends of the Focolare movement. They were attending meetings in Castel Gandolfo for the 37th international meeting of the movement. The theme was "Reciprocity of love between the disciples of Christ.".
As he has done in the past, not only with Focolare but with other ecclesial movements, Pope Francis affirmed the movement. He encouraged his brother Bishops to pastor the work and "bring to these meetings the wide-ranging breath of the Church." He asked them to ensure that all of the efforts of the movement are "for the benefit of the whole church."
Then, picking up on the theme of the gathering of the movement, Pope Francis recalled the words of John Paul II in the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (The Beginning of the Third Millennium) : To make the Church the home and the school of communion' is truly fundamental for the efficacy of every commitment to evangelization, inasmuch as it reveals the deepest yearning of the Father: that all His sons live as brothers; and it reveals the will of Christ, that 'that all of them may be one'; and it reveals the dynamism of the Holy Spirit, its free and liberating force of attraction. Cultivating the spirituality of communion also contributes to making us more able to walk the path of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue.
The New Evangelization calls for an authentic renewal by bringing Catholics in the pews into a life changing encounter with the Risen Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. This makes it possible for them to come understand their vital role in the mission of the Church. The movements are a wonderful vehicle for bringing people into such an encounter and rooting them in the heart of the Church for the sake of the world. If - they are properly welcomed and pastored.
