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Message of the Holy Father Francis to
The International Forum for Catholic Action
Vatican City, 27 November 2022
Dear brothers of the FIAC,
After the election of the new authorities of the Forum Internazionale di Azione Cattolica, I congratulate those who have made the commitment to carry forward the leadership during the next period, which follows the path begun more than 30 years ago. At that time, Venerable Cardinal Eduardo Pironio sensed the need to create this forum so that the life of Catholic Action would contribute to the challenge of the new evangelization, enriched by the peculiarity of each place and culture. Many of you decisively accompanied this intuition and put your abilities and desire to proclaim the Gospel in that service, even with the difficulties of the time, since there were no means of communication and rapprochement between countries that exist today.
Certainly, the world context that accompanies the new stage is not the same as that of thirty years ago, not even that of the previous leadership. The social aftermath of the pandemic, as well as the personal ones, continue to mark the mood and the look at the life and future of many. In certain areas, the individualism of tailor-made salvation has been revived; without forgetting the scourge of violence between countries and brothers that are undermining the desire for universal brotherhood. However, difficult times can be challenging and turn into times of hope. As Cardinal Pironio, a man of hope, said: “How important in life it is to be a sign! But not an empty sign or a sign of death, but a sign of light communicator of hope. Hope is capable of overcoming the difficulties, the disagreements, the crosses that arise in everyday life.”
At the same time, as a Church we are going through a time in which we need the synodal spirit to take root in our way of being Church;
This means the exercise of walking together in the same direction. I am convinced that this is what God expects of the Church of the third millennium.
May it regain the awareness that it is a people on the road and that it must do so together.
I would therefore like to ask you to encourage Catholic action groups in the various local churches in this spirit.
In a synodal spirit we need to learn to listen to each other, to relearn the art of speaking to the other without barriers or prejudices, even and in a particular way, with those who are outside, on the margins, to seek closeness, which is God’s style (cf. Video of the Pope for a Church open to all, October 2022).
In this context, I urge the new leadership to be men and women of listening.
I hope that they are not “leaders” of desk, papers or Zoom, and that they do not fall into the temptation of institutional structuralism that plans and organizes from statutes, regulations and inherited proposals, which were good and useful at the time but perhaps are not significant today. Please listen.
First: listen to the concrete men, women, the elderly, young people and children, in their realities, in their silent cries expressed in their gazes and in their deep cries.
Have a listening ear so as not to give answers to questions that no one asks or say words that no one is interested in hearing or serving.
Listen with ears open to what is new and with a Samaritan heart.
Second, listen to the heartbeat of the signs of the times.
The Church cannot be on the sidelines of history, entangled in its own affairs, keeping its ‘bubble’ inflated.
The Church is called to listen and see the signs of the times, to make history with its complexities and contradictions, a history of salvation.
We need to be a vitally prophetic Church, from signs and gestures, which show that there is another possibility of coexistence, of human relationships, of work, of love, of power and service.
And finally, for this to be possible we need to hear the voice of the Spirit.
In every age, the Spirit opens us to his newness; “He always teaches the Church the vital need to go out, the physiological need to proclaim, not to remain closed in on herself” (Homily of Pentecost Sunday, 5 June 2022).
While the worldly spirit pressures us to concentrate only on our problems and interests, on the need to be relevant, on the tenacious defense of our belongings and group, the Spirit frees us from obsessing over urgencies, and invites us to follow old and ever new paths: those of witness, poverty and mission, to free us from ourselves and send us out into the world.
Perhaps you feel that the proposal to listen is not enough, however, it is not passive listening.
It is the active listening that marks the rhythm of our work; it is the necessary inhalation to be a Church that breathes missionarily. This is what the Blessed Virgin did, because she listened, stood up and walked to go and serve.
I pray that you may make this period a time of grace, with the audacity of knowing how to listen, the serenity to be able to discern and the courage to announce with life and from life.
Thank you very much for accepting this challenge. I pray to God for each one of you. Please don’t stop praying for me.
May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin take care of you.
Fraternally Francis
