The following interview first appeared in Avvenire on July 19, 2016.

“Iuvenescit Ecclesia, the Church rejuvenates…”: this joyful affirmation opens the Letter to the Bishops of the Church on the relationship between hierarchical and charismatic gifts in the life and mission of the Church, dated Pentecost 2016 and signed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The entire tract (24 paragraphs divided into 5 chapters) is dedicated to renewing our awareness of the ways in which the charisms tirelessly inspired by the Holy Spirit within the living fabric of the Church rejuvenate her in a lasting way. Vatican II said it half a century ago, and the Holy See repeats it again today with words reinforced by history and experience. Over this long, but comparatively short post-Conciliar age, this history and experience has been shared by Communion and Liberation, a Movement with global dimensions, though it takes on the unmistakable face of the men and women in each individual place where Fr. Luigi Giussani’s spiritual children have gone to plant the seeds of the education- and mission-centered charism. Fr. Julián Carrón is one of these, called to the great responsibility of taking up the baton (the destiny of those who come after a founder) and carrying it far and wide as president of the Fraternity of CL, encouraged by the enthusiasm of a Pope who speaks the same native tongue.

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