Pope Leo’s address to members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal
Audience Hall – Saturday, 30 May 2026
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Peace be with you!
Your Eminence, Your Excellencies,
Dear brothers and sisters,
I am pleased to attend my first meeting of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and to greet all of you present, as well as the communities, groups and schools of prayer and of evangelization that you represent.
God has indeed blessed your communities with so many gifts, including spiritual vitality.
I also greet the leaders of the national and international Services of Communion of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service (CHARIS), who have organized this gathering.
For the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, the years following the Second Vatican Council were a time of great expansion and growth, and of integration into the life of the Church, and consolidation of service structures.
My venerable Predecessors recognized this development as a great gift to the Church.
Indeed, St. Paul VI said that in an increasingly secularized world, nothing is more necessary than bearing witness to this spiritual renewal inspired by the Holy Spirit in diverse regions and communities.
St. John Paul II said the following in emphasizing your characteristic focus on evangelization:
“It is the Spirit himself who impels you to bear witness.”
He likewise remarked: “How can anyone who has tasted the goodness of Christ remain silent and inactive?…
Christ is our Savior… How can we fail to evangelize?
Continue to communicate this zeal for the Gospel to those around you!”
(Address to the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Communities, 7 December 1991).
For his part, Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged the specific contribution you make to the Church.
He said: “One of the positive elements and aspects of the Community of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal is precisely their emphasis on the charisms or gifts of the Holy Spirit and their merit lies in having recalled their topicality in the Church”.
Similar to Cardinal Suenens in the early days of the movement, Pope Francis often referred to you as a “flood of grace,” which is “for the whole Church, not just for some” (Prayer Vigil on the Occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, 3 June 2017).
He outlined your path as “evangelization, spiritual ecumenism, caring for the poor and needy, and welcoming the marginalized,” adding that “all of it is based on worship! The foundation of the renewal is worshiping God!”
I, too, wish to foster the relationship of mutual respect, closeness and support between the See of Peter and the great family of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
To that end, I would like to reflect on the following aspects of your spiritual experience:
– Baptism in the Spirit – Prayer of praise – The Word of God – Communion – Charity/
First baptism in the Spirit.
Your shared journey of faith stems from your personal experiences with the Holy Spirit.
These experiences have made the grace of Baptism effective within you, leading you to a clear awareness of God’s love.
St. Augustine himself had this powerful experience of grace after his conversion, which he described in these heartfelt words:: “O Christ Jesus, ‘my helper and redeemer’; suddenly it had become sweet to me to be without the sweets of folly. What I once feared to lose was now a delight to dismiss. You turned them out and entered to take their place, pleasanter than any pleasure” (Confessions, IX, 1, 1).
Likewise, the Holy Spirit has allowed you to experience the sweetness of Christ.
Your life has also changed since that moment. God has ceased to be an idea and has become the ultimate and real expression of fatherhood.
His Spirit has brought inner reconciliation, peace, and freedom from worldly attachments and the oppression of sin.
The Holy Spirit has also made possible a new outlook characterized by openness and hope toward others and the future. We can be certain that nothing can ever separate us from the love of Christ. (Romans 8:38–39 – For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord).
This experience of the Holy Spirit inspires an inner desire to be witnesses and heralds of His love.
We strive to bring His consolation to those who are oppressed by emptiness and loneliness.
2. Prayer of praise.
A new life of prayer began from this captivating experience of the Holy Spirit, taking the form of a new capacity for spontaneous and sincere dialogue with God and a new openness to praising, worshipping, and offering thanksgiving to Him.
Worship and praise are essential aspects of Christian prayer and are so characteristic of your gatherings. You have helped rediscover these aspects and bring them back to the forefront in recent years.
3. The word of God.
The renewed outpouring of the Spirit has led you to a living encounter with Sacred Scripture.
The Holy Spirit inspired the revealed Word of God, and He keeps it alive and active in the Church. It resonates in the hearts of believers, especially during the liturgy.
Therefore, Scripture has become a wonderful source of spiritual nourishment for you, enlightening and comforting you.
Scripture is also a source of discernment that guides your daily choices and gives substance to communal prayer. It enables you to address the Lord with words inspired by God himself.
4. Communion.
The Holy Spirit is the wellspring of communion.
In various documents, Pope Leo XIII encouraged Catholics to pray a novena to the Holy Spirit each year between the Feast of the Ascension and the Feast of Pentecost, especially for Christian unity.
You clearly understand the importance of this request because you recognize that unity in the Church is a gift from the Holy Spirit. As St. Augustine states in De Trinitate, “The Holy Spirit is a certain unutterable communion of the Father and the Son” (V, 11, 12).
The Spirit creates harmony among the various charisms and components of the Charismatic Renewal, as well as with our brothers and sisters of other Christian denominations.
And finally, 5. Charity.
Saint Augustine wrote that the Holy Spirit, “who is love itself, has been given to man and inflames him with love for God and neighbor. For man can have no love for God unless it is given to him by God.”
You have experienced this, too.
The renewed presence of the Spirit has awakened a new capacity to love in you, inspired by divine charity itself.
This love is directed toward God and your fellow humans, inspiring closeness and compassion, especially for the suffering.
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal has inspired many works of charity for those in need, both spiritual and physical.
I invite you to continue to love the poor, as this reveals the true face of God.
Dear friends,
Thank you for your commitment, and know that I encourage you to continue your mission.
Offer your experience and methods of evangelization to the dioceses and parishes.
Follow the guidance of your priests faithfully, and in your communal discernment, listen to wise people, even if they are not part of your group.
Cultivate harmony and cooperation among the communities to which you belong. Take care never to give in to the desire for self-promotion or the pursuit of power or personal prestige.
May the Holy Spirit always be a light and a source of strength on your personal and communal journeys. May the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, protect you.
With these sentiments in mind, I willingly impart my apostolic blessing.
