Dear Friends,

I wish to share with you the joy of being received in audience with the Holy Father yesterday morning, Saturday, June 15, together with Fr. Andrea D'Auria, Director of the International Center of Communion and Liberation, and Marco Melato, Secretary General of the Fraternity.

Already at the end of our last meeting, held last January, the Holy Father expressed his wish that I return shortly to tell him about the life of the movement. The Pope wished to know the steps we have taken, also following the letter sent to me last January 30. During the meeting he showed great appreciation for what we are experiencing, testifying to his loving companionship on our journey. We were able to share with him the most important facts from this past year, getting into the details of the proposed contents through the accounts of the Beginning Day, the School of Community, the Fraternity Exercises dedicated to hope, and my recent talk on culture. The Holy Father said he was very pleased and affirmed us in our work, sharing the contents and concerns that we explained to him.

He therefore encouraged us to continue on this path without hesitation and suggested that we continue on the path we have taken to deepen the richness of the charism, especially by valuing the method of communional leadership. In this regard, the Pope spoke to us of the need to share the charism and for a co-responsibility in the leadership of the movement. “Without this,” he added, “every movement has a short life. The charism continues to live in a history and in a people that makes it relevant.” He also stressed that every charism must conceive of itself as being at the service of the whole Church, never distancing itself from it, with renewed missionary drive: “Do not look at your navel, go outside, go outside! The whole Church needs this.” The Holy Father repeated this phrase several times during the audience.

To my request for his judgment on the cultural work we are doing, Pope Francis agreed with the approach, reiterating that the charism needs to be continually revived. A movement, the Holy Father reminded us, must remain faithful to its charism by communicating itself creatively in every place around the world where it is present.

Friends, I am truly grateful for the Pope’s surprising and fatherly companionship, who heartens, comforts and supports us in our missionary task. At the end of the audience we gave him the text of the Exercises of Fraternity preached by Monsignor Giovanni Paccosi and the Pope commented, “Hope, hope… hope is a humble virtue.”

Let us ask the Lord that we never lack this hope full of humility. And let us not forget to always pray for the Holy Father.

With warm regards,