Church unity, mission must be at heart of all Catholic groups, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — With their specific forms of prayer, outreach or emphasis both the long-established groups of Catholic laypeople as well as the newer movements and communities are called to contribute to the unity and mission of the church, Pope Leo XIV said.

“Unity and mission are two essential aspects of the church’s life and two priorities of the Petrine ministry,” the pope said. “For this reason, I ask all ecclesial associations and movements to cooperate faithfully and generously with the pope, above all in these two areas.”

The pope met June 6 with about 250 leaders of 115 international associations of the faithful, ecclesial movements and new communities recognized and supported by the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life. The groups included, for example, the Legion of Mary, the Neocatechumenal Way, Communion and Liberation, a variety of charismatic communities and various Catholic scouting groups. 

“Some were founded to carry out a common apostolic, charitable or liturgical project, or to support Christian witness in specific social settings,” Pope Leo noted. “Others, however, originated with a charismatic inspiration, an initial charism that gave rise to a movement, a new form of spirituality and of evangelization.”

All the groups, though, aim to help their members live the Christian life more deeply in service to God, to the church and to their brothers and sisters, he said.

“The desire to work together for a common purpose reflects an essential reality: no one is Christian alone,” the pope told the leaders. “We are part of a people, a body established by the Lord.” 

“The Christian life is not lived in isolation, as a kind of intellectual or sentimental experience, confined to the mind and the heart,” he said. “It is lived with others, in a group and in community, because the risen Christ is present wherever disciples gather in his name.”

But within the church, the pope said, those groups cannot live in isolation either.

“Seek to spread everywhere this unity that you yourselves experience in your groups and communities, always in communion with the church’s pastors and in solidarity with other ecclesial realities,” Pope Leo said.

“Draw close to all those whom you meet, so that your charisms may ever be at the service of the unity of the church, and be ‘a leaven of unity, communion and fraternity’ in our world, so torn by discord and violence,” he said, quoting from his homily May 18 at the Mass inaugurating his papacy. 

The outward focus of the groups is also essential, he said, since the church is called to be missionary, sharing the love of God with the world.

“The church’s mission has been an important part of my own pastoral experience and has shaped my spiritual life,” said the pope, who spent decades as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru.

“You too have experienced this spiritual journey,” he said. “Your encounter with the Lord and the new life that filled your hearts gave rise to your desire to make him known to others.”

“Place your talents at the service of the church’s mission, whether in places of first evangelization or in your parishes and local ecclesial communities, in order to reach those who, albeit distant, are often waiting, without being aware of it, to hear God’s word of life,” Pope Leo told the groups.