Vatican City, Jun 14, 2016 / 05:46 am
The Vatican's doctrinal watchdog has issued a new document affirming that while some might be hesitant in the face of new lay movements in the Church, they are a "great gift" in ecclesial life.
However, at the same time the document stressed that these movements must respect the authority of the Church's hierarchy, both local and universal.
Lay movements "are not to be considered optional in the life of the Church," but are rather "to be considered as gifts of indispensable importance for the life and mission of the Church," read the document, published June 14.
"In the essential work of the new evangelization, it is now more than ever necessary to recognize and value the numerous charisms capable of reawakening and nourishing the life of the faith of the People of God," it continued.
Quoting St. John Paul II, the document said these new movements provide "a providential answer" from the Holy Spirit to the need to communicate the Gospel in a persuasive way.
However, it also noted that a time of "ecclesial maturity" is needed for such groups to ensure their "full value and insertion" into the local Church and parish communities. This insertion, he said, must always remain "in communion with the pastors and attentive to their directions."
The letter, titled "Iuvenescit Ecclesia," or, "The Church Rejuvenates," is the first major document issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith since Pope Francis' election in March 2013.
Addressed to the world's bishops, the letter was approved by Pope Francis March 14 and officially signed by Cardinal Gerhard Muller, prefect of the congregation, and Archbishop Luis Ladaria, the congregation's secretary, May 15.
The main aim of the document, according to the letter itself, is to promote a "fruitful and ordered participation of the new groups in the communion and the mission of the Church," with both her hierarchical and charismatic gifts in mind.
During the June 14 presentation of the document at the Holy See press office, Cardinal Muller said that the document has been in the works for "several years," with the first studies beginning in 2000.
He said a challenge which every institution wanting to last through history must face is how "to stay young with the passage of time, that is, to renew itself, remaining itself without changing identity."
Given this, "it seemed necessary to offer pastors and the faithful a sure and encouraging consideration of the relationship between these gifts that have enlivened the life of the Church, especially with the growth of movements and new ecclesial communities in the recent past."
The 32-page document focuses on what it calls "recent realities" in the Church, which it described as "groups of the faithful, ecclesial movements and new communities."