Here is a translation of the Pope’s address today to members of the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowships, on the occasion of their 16thInternational Conference on the theme: “Charismatic Praise and Adoration for a New Evangelization” (Rome, October 30-November 2, 2014).
Dear Brothers and Sisters, welcome.
I would like to reflect on some subjects that I think are important. Unity in diversity. Uniformity is not Catholic, it is not Christian. Unity in diversity. Catholic unity is diverse but it is one. It is curious! What makes for diversity is the same as what then makes for unity: the Holy Spirit. He does both things: unity in diversity. Unity is not uniformity, it is not to do by obligation everything together, or think in the same way, or lose one’s identity. Unity in diversity is precisely the contrary; it is to recognize and accept joyfully the different gifts that the Holy Spirit gives each one and to put them at the service of all in the Church.
In the passage of the Gospel that we read in the Mass today, there was this uniformity in those men attached to the letter: “It must not be done like this …” to the point that the Lord had to ask: “But, tell me, can good be done on the Sabbath or not?” This is the danger of uniformity. Unity is to be able to listen, to accept differences, to have the freedom to think differently and to manifest it! --with all respect for the other who is my brother. Do not be afraid of differences! As I said in the Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium: “The model is not the sphere, which is not superior to the parts, where every point is equidistant from the center and there are no differences between one point and another. The model is the polyhedron, which reflects the confluence of all the partialities that retain their originality in it” (236), but they make a unity.
