Vatican City, Jun 4, 2017 / 04:54 am
On Pentecost Sunday, Pope Francis said that division doesn't come from the Holy Spirit, who forms the universal Church with both unity and diversity – and we must pray to resist the temptation to encourage division.
The Holy Spirit creates diversity in unity, Pope Francis said June 4, because in every time and place he gives and nurtures different charisms and graces. And he does so in a way that "effects true union, according to God's will, a union that is not uniformity, but unity in difference."
But there are two temptations we must avoid in order to receive these graces, he warned. One is the temptation to seek diversity without unity, which is what happens when we take sides or get locked in our own way of doing things, perhaps even thinking that we are better than other people or always in the right.
"When this happens, we choose the part over the whole, belonging to this or that group before belonging to the Church," he said. "We become avid supporters for one side, rather than brothers and sisters in the one Spirit. We become Christians of the 'right' or the 'left,' before being on the side of Jesus."