Immense Gratitude

We feel immense gratitude towards Pope John Paul II. Our relationship with him goes back to the sixties when he was still archbishop in Krakow. Cardinal Wojtyla, as he was then, recognised a charism at work within the Movement: in fact, he said, ‘You don’t need an assistant because you have the grace to carry it (the Movement) ahead; otherwise it could all be ruined.’

The first big meeting of the Pope with the ecclesial movements in St. Peter’s Square on Pentecost eve remains like a fixed point in history. We seemed to be starting a new era in the life of the Church: the Church of the Council with not just the hierarchy and the Petrine aspect but also the charismatic and Marian aspect: the two dimensions that he recognised as ‘co-essential.’
In this way he gave us a place within the Church.

Throughout his pontificate he was always open to the novelty that the Holy Spirit brings. Things that the canon lawyers said were impossible, he made possible, for example, the insertion of members of other Churches, of followers of other religions and of people of no faith into a Catholic movement, that cardinals and bishops can have a spiritual link with the movement and even that a woman should always be the leader of a Work that includes bishops, priests and members of religious orders. In doing so he has brought a new prospective to the role of women and the openness of the Church.

There have been many meetings with him, audiences and invitations to dinner…….. for eight years he has telephoned to give his good wishes on St. Clare’s day …….he even called me ‘sister’ in his last letter.

One day, back in 1983, during a big meeting in the Sports Palace in Rome, we had the joy of hearing him say: ‘Often when I am sad, I think of the ‘focolarini’. And then I feel consoled, greatly consoled.’

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The charism of the Pope

John Paul II: a great Pope, a great saint!

Chiara Lubich’s testimony

“A great Pope, a great saint has truly left us! If the times were to return when sanctity was proclaimed by popular demand, young people would be first in line.

His sanctity - I too can testify to this from personal experience. Often, after an audience with him, I felt that heaven was opened wide. I felt directly linked to God in the deepest union with Him without any intermediary. The Pope is a mediator who disappears when he has united you to God. He has the keys, not only for the forgiveness of sins, but also to heaven, by giving us access to union with God.

How else can you explain the joy, the enthusiasm of the millions of men and women of every race, culture, religion and creed that he has met all over the world, and the attraction that the Pope has always had for young people? How else can you explain the historical changes he has influenced over the last 27 years? This Pope communicated God and God “makes all things new”. And the more his burden of suffering grew, this presence of God became ever stronger right up to the last moment of his life.

However at this time I also have to express my deepest thanks for the many other doors opened by those keys: the Pope always threw the doors wide open to the newness of the Spirit which he also recognised in our Movement, by giving his continuous encouragement and support and by acknowledging the Movement as a gift of God and hope for humanity.”