Pope Francis said he was dismayed by Catholic communities and groups that claim to be working to improve church life, but attempt to do so without prayer, the Eucharist and unity with the rest of the church.
“At times, I feel a great sadness when I see a community that, with goodwill, takes a wrong path because it thinks it is making the church through gatherings, as if it were a political party: the majority, the minority, what this one thinks of this or that or the other, (saying), ‘This is like a synod, a synodal path that we must take,’” the pope said Nov. 25 during his weekly general audience.
“I ask myself, ‘Where is the Holy Spirit there? Where is prayer? Where is the community’s love? Where is the Eucharist?’ Without these four coordinates, the church becomes a human society, a political party,” he said. “But there is no Holy Spirit.”
While the pope did not mention a specific country or situation, already in June 2019, he had written a letter to Catholics in Germany urging them to ensure that their “synodal path” was guided by the Holy Spirit with patience and was not simply a “search for immediate results that generate quick and immediate consequences but are ephemeral due to the lack of maturity or because they do not respond to the vocation to which we are called.”
…In his audience talk, the pope said that in order “to evaluate a situation, whether it is ecclesial or not, we must ask ourselves if there are these four coordinates: community life, prayer, the Eucharist and preaching.”
If one of those aspects is missing, he said, then the presence of the Holy Spirit is missing, which risks converting the Catholic Church into “a beautiful humanitarian association,” but “it is not the church.”
Discussions and negotiations do not lead to the growth of the church, he said. “It grows by attraction. And who creates that attraction? The Holy Spirit,” Pope Francis said, echoing the words of retired Pope Benedict XVI.
“If the Holy Spirit, who attracts people to Jesus, is missing, then there is no church there. There is a nice club of friends, good, with good intentions, but there is no church, there is no synodality,” the pope said.
“At times, I feel a great sadness when I see a community that, with goodwill, takes a wrong path because it thinks it is making the church through gatherings, as if it were a political party: the majority, the minority, what this one thinks of this or that or the other, (saying), ‘This is like a synod, a synodal path that we must take,’” the pope said Nov. 25 during his weekly general audience.
“I ask myself, ‘Where is the Holy Spirit there? Where is prayer? Where is the community’s love? Where is the Eucharist?’ Without these four coordinates, the church becomes a human society, a political party,” he said. “But there is no Holy Spirit.”
While the pope did not mention a specific country or situation, already in June 2019, he had written a letter to Catholics in Germany urging them to ensure that their “synodal path” was guided by the Holy Spirit with patience and was not simply a “search for immediate results that generate quick and immediate consequences but are ephemeral due to the lack of maturity or because they do not respond to the vocation to which we are called.”
…In his audience talk, the pope said that in order “to evaluate a situation, whether it is ecclesial or not, we must ask ourselves if there are these four coordinates: community life, prayer, the Eucharist and preaching.”
If one of those aspects is missing, he said, then the presence of the Holy Spirit is missing, which risks converting the Catholic Church into “a beautiful humanitarian association,” but “it is not the church.”
Discussions and negotiations do not lead to the growth of the church, he said. “It grows by attraction. And who creates that attraction? The Holy Spirit,” Pope Francis said, echoing the words of retired Pope Benedict XVI.
“If the Holy Spirit, who attracts people to Jesus, is missing, then there is no church there. There is a nice club of friends, good, with good intentions, but there is no church, there is no synodality,” the pope said.