This issue’s editorial is an excerpt from the dialogue with Fr. Julián Carrón, conducted by the Mexican news agency Notimex and then published in Vatican Insider.

The Movement’s expansion presents challenges.In many environments, the Movement represents the “visible face” of the Church. How do you respond to this responsibility? With humility.We are perfectly aware of how small we are, we know our limits and our disproportion.At the same time we are pleased when we see that the Lord manages through our small “yes” to do things that leave us in awe and strengthen our faith. At this moment in history when everything is crumbling down, to see that certainty in the faith of Jesus Christ is growing–not because we are imagining it,but because we see people who find it and live better, they feel more content and are better prepared to deal with life’s challenges–fills us will joy and gratitude.

The Pope warned you about temptations such as “self-referentiality” and seeing Christianity as a “label.” What do you think about these warnings? We see it as a very wise call because we feel called to the truth of our charism. Fr.Giussani has always encouraged us to go out, to see the value in everything we come across, in all people we meet and in all circumstances. Hence the call to us not to be closed is in tune with the advice he has given us so that we don’t miss all the good, beautiful and wonderful things we may experience in our relations with people and in various situations.

The Pope also asked you not to lose “the freshness of your charism.” How do you deal with questions that arise when the movement comes under severe public scrutiny, without losing that freshness? We went to Rome for the audience with the Pope not just because we wanted to celebrate an anniversary but because we wanted to learn, to ask him sincerely how we can preserve the freshness of the charism 10 years after Fr. Giussani’s death. The Pope gave us clear answers; the key is for Christ to always be at the center and he told us this not just with words, he actually made it happen. In St.Peter’s Square we heard him talk about Christianity just as Giussani bore testimony to it. Pope Francis revived the freshness of the charism within us once again, hence we feel the urgent need to preserve it and that the tradition keeps the fire alive.

But there have also been difficulties and crises over these past years, haven’t there? Naturally the size of this movement means we are always under the spotlight. Sometimes this gives us the chance to give a contribution to others, but sometimes it brings humiliation because we have shortcomings too, just of the whole of the Church sometimes has.We treat them as a constant wish to take stock of important things we are told, leaving aside exaggerations and journalistic interpretations, which we overlook because we are concerned in learning from our limits, too.