VATICAN CITY (CNS): Pope Benedict XVI called on lay movements and communities to bring Christ’s saving light to all people and help usher in a new order based on love and justice that can resist the savagery and lust for power sweeping the world.
He asked that lay movements bring the truth, authentic freedom and happiness that’s found through Christ “to this troubled world” where peoples and nations are suffering from the evil produced by “the thirst for power, control and pleasure”.
“The extraordinary fusion of love for God and love for one’s neighbour makes life beautiful and makes bloom the desert in which we often find ourselves living,” the Pope said in a written message to participants taking part in the May 31-June 2 Second World Congress of Ecclesial Movements and New Communities in Rocca di Papa, outside Rome.
Some 300 people representing more than 100 movements and communities from all over the world attended the gathering, which focused on “The Beauty of Being a Christian and the Joy of Communicating This”.
In his message, the Pope recalled his participation in the First World Congress held in Rome in 1998 when, as then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he was head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
He reiterated his support for ecclesial movements and new communities, saying they are “a bright sign of the beauty of Christ and the Church” in the world today.
