Vatican City, May 10, 2018 / 05:17 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis Thursday paid a visit to two small Catholic communes in central Italy dedicated to living solidarity and promoting ecumenical unity, telling members that their “prophetic” way of living the Gospel must continue with boldness and perseverance.
Speaking to members of the Nomadelfia community and commune, the pope said theirs is “a prophetic reality that proposes the creation of a new civilization, implementing the Gospel as a form of a good and beautiful life.”
Similarly, he told members of the Focolare Movement, which has a Marian spirituality and places an emphasis on ecumenism, that their community is “an illustration of the mission of the Church today, as traced by the Second Vatican Council.”
He told members they should not stay locked inside, but must “go out, to encounter, to take care of, to throw the leaven of the Gospel in the pasta of society, above all where there is most need, where the Gospel is awaited and invoked: in poverty, in suffering, in trials, in the search and in doubt.”
He said “frankness” and “perseverance” – in Greek “parresia” and “hypomone” – were two keywords members should to keep in mind going forward.
Parresia, or frankness, he said, speaks of the “courage and sincerity in bearing witness to the truth” that a disciple of Jesus needs to have, even in prayer.
“Prayer must have frankness, to say things face-to-face,” he said, and, pointing to how Abraham bartered with God to continue lowering the number of righteous people needed to save Sodom and Gomorrah from destruction, told members to “fight with God in prayer.”
Perseverance, he said, means learning to move beyond the difficult situations that life presents and not get bogged down by challenges.
“This term expresses the constancy and firmness in carrying forward the choice of God and of new life in Christ. It means keeping this choice firm, even at the cost of difficulty and opposition, knowing that this constancy, this firmness and this patience produce hope, and hope does not disappoint,” he said.
Referring to the image of the “Maria Theotokos” housed in a shrine in Loppiano, which is the epicenter of the Focolare Movement, the pope noted that “the first disciple of Jesus was his mother,” and told members, most of whom are laypeople, not to forget that “Mary was a laywoman.”
Pope Francis met briefly with members of the Nomadelfia and Focolare communities during a May 10 half-day trip to Grosetto and Loppiano, where each of the movements operate.
Nomadelfia – which in Greek means ‘where brotherhood is law’ – is a small community and commune within the Tuscan city of Grosseto consisting of practicing Catholics seeking to live a life inspired by the events in the biblical book of the Acts of the Apostles.
The community was founded by Fr. Zeno Saltini, who after his ordination to the priesthood in 1931, spiritually adopted as his “son” a 17-year-old boy who had recently left prison.
Saltini continued to welcome more and more troubled and abandoned youth. Eventually, as more young people knocked on his door, the community grew and laywomen came as “mothers” to care for the youth who arrived. Soon couples also began to arrive who welcomed the children and raised them as a family.
The first commune of Nomadelfia was located on the grounds of a former concentration camp in Fossoli following the German occupation of Italy during the Second World War, before later transferring to Grosseto.
There is no private property in the commune; everything is shared, and children who come are required to attend school until the age of 18. Today there are some 5,000 youth who have been welcomed into the Grosseto commune. Many of the couples in the community have welcomed children and youth as foster-parents.
The last pope to visit Nomadelfia was St. John Paul II in 1989, just eight years after Fr. Saltini’s death in 1981.
After arriving around 8a.m. May 10, Pope Francis was welcomed by Saltini’s successor, Don Ferdinando Neri, and the president of the community, Francesco Matterazzo.
He visited the commune’s cemetery and led the community in a prayer at Saltini’s tomb, leaving a stone with his name on it, as other inhabitants of Nomadelfia have done, before visiting the tombs of the first members of the community.
Francis then made his way to the chapel of the main house of the community, where he entrusted two children into the care of two separate families, after which he met with the wider community.
In his speech, Pope Francis pointed to the meaning of their name, Nomadelfia, saying the “law of brotherhood” they live was the life-goal of their founder.
Saltini, he said, understood when he saw abandoned and suffering youth that “the only language they understood was that of love.”
Because of this, the priest was able to identify a unique type of society “where there is no space for isolation or solitude, but the principle collaboration between different families is in force, where the members recognize their brothers in faith.”
Francis also pointed to the care shown toward the elderly in the commune, who even when in poor health are not abandoned, but are supported by the entire community.
“Continue on this path, incarnating the model of fraternal love through visible works and signs in the many contexts where evangelical charity calls you,” the pope said, telling members that when faced with a world that is often hostile to Christ and his Church, “do not hesitate in responding to the joyful and serene witness of your lives, inspired by the Gospel.”
After his brief visit to Nomadelfia, Pope Francis made another short stop in Loppiano, heart of the Focolare Movement launched by Chiara Lubich in 1943 as a means of spiritual and social renewal.
The movement, which places an emphasis on universal brotherhood and ecumenical unity, and promotes a Marian spirituality, is currently present in 182 countries around the world.
Although the movement was established by a Catholic, it embraces and welcomes members of other religions who do not necessarily share Catholic beliefs. Focolare has around two million Catholic members as well as thousands of members from other Christian churches and religious traditions, including Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus.
After arriving to Loppiano, the pope immediately went to the shrine of “Maria Theotokos,” where he sat in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and prayed in front of the image of the Mary the “Theotokos” – the “God-bearer” or “Mother of God” in Greek.
In an audience with members of the movement in the sanctuary’s churchyard, the pope responded to three questions on how to live a life of true charity amid modern challenges; how academic and formational entities can grow and build new forms of leadership in society, and what the mission of Focolare is in the New Evangelization.
Speaking of frankness and perseverance, Pope Francis said these qualities mean “to have a heart turned toward God, believing in his love so that his love casts out every false fear, every temptation of hiding oneself in a quiet life, in respectability or even in a subtle hypocrisy.”
“One must ask the Holy Spirit for frankness – always united to respect and tenderness – in bearing witness to the great and beautiful works that God has done in us and in our midst,” he said, and encouraged members to be honest and sincere in their relationships, but to avoid sowing discord and murmuring through gossip.
As he often has in the past, Francis called a gossiper a “terrorist” who “destroys the community, destroys the Church, and also destroys oneself.”
He also stressed the need to persevere amid modern challenges, saying perseverance is a sign of God’s love. “which precedes us and renders us capable of living with tenacity, serenity and positivity,” as well as a sense of humor, “even in the most difficult moments.”
In order for the community to go forward, it also needs memory, he said, because it “allows you to go forward and bear fruit. If you don’t have memory, the tree won’t bear fruit because it doesn’t have roots.”
Speaking of the numerous centers for education and formation run by the movement, the pope urged them to give the entities “a new momentum, opening them to even more vast horizons and projecting them to the frontiers.”
A special emphasis, he said, should be placed on the courses that connect children, older youth, families and people from different vocations.
In terms of the movement’s role in the New Evangelization, Pope Francis said that at 50 years old, the life of the Loppiano community is just beginning in terms of their service in announcing the Gospel, which requires “humility, openness, synergy and the ability to risk.”
“We need men and women – young people, families, persons from all vocations and professions – to trace new paths to follow together,” he said.
Francis then said the big challenge in this regard is to have a “faithful creativity,” which means being faithful to their charism while also being open to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, courageously interpreting new paths forward.
Discernment is necessary for this “faithful creativity” to be successful, he said, adding that :we are all called to be artisans of communitarian discernment. This is the path so that also Loppiano can discover and follow, step by step, but path of God in service to the Church and to society.”
[…]
We read: “It was in Nicaea that the Church’s unity and mission were first expressed emblematically at a universal level (and from here, it draws its designation as an ecumenical council) through the synodal form of that ‘walking together’ which is proper to the Church…”
“Walking together” as successors of the Apostles, so also and therefore excluding (!) Arianism.
The faith expressed at Nicaea is the opening revelation to the world depicting Christ as God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God. A truth that remains indelible and resistible to modification.
“The faith expressed at Nicaea is the opening revelation to the world depicting Christ as God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God. A truth that remains indelible and resistible to modification.”
As does the Filioque, which in affirming The Unity of The Holy Ghost, In The Ordered Communion Of Perfect Complementary Eternal Love, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, affirms the fact that there is only One Divine Son Of God, thus The Spirit Of Perfect Love Between The Father And His Only Son, Must Proceed From Both The Father And The Son, for both The Father And The Son, Exist, In Essence,
As A Communion Of Eternal Divine Love.
Well done for this magnificent and well-worded reminder!
But did you notice that the document from the International Theological Commission only mentioned the Filioque once, in order to repudiate it very bluntly?
Everything suggests that it should be sacrificed on the altar of ecumenism, and this seems to me to be an offense to the good Catholic people, an incredible regression, and I fear even worse, since it is written in paragraph 12 “The Father also gives everything to the Spirit,” which is a radical novelty in Catholic tradition, and I wonder if this might not be heresy because of the confusion it creates between the two persons, the Son and the Spirit, since they are supposed to be distinguished by their mode of procession from the Father.
What do you think?
“…repudiate it bluntly”?
As you report, the term filioque does appear only once (n.4, in connection with accurately noted “misunderstandings”), but it is hardly repudiated. For the meaning but not the term, see n. 13 “[….] he is the Spirit of the Father and Spirit of the Son (Gal 4:6; Rom 8:9) [….]”. Here’s the link: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_doc_20250403_1700-nicea_en.html
Possibly more troublesome might be the initial wording about “synods” [of bishops!], but this term (appearing 51 times), too, as it is used, and as it is explicitly clarified especially in n. 113 which recalls “Apostolic Tradition” (in contrast with today’s unmentioned and mixed town hall meetings).
Also, about the filioque inserted into the Creed, here’s a history:
The filioque (the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father “and from the Son”) was present in the ancient texts and put forth by the Synod of Aachen in 809 (I think I’ve read, by Charlemagne in response to rekindled Arianism in Iberia), and introduced universally in Rome only in 1014. It was adopted by the Greeks and the Latins at the Councils of Lyon (II, 1274), and Florence (1438-1445) where it was initially agreed that the Greek “through the Son” did not differ essentially from “from the Son.” But the Greeks back home quickly disagreed—likely inflamed in part by the long memory of the earlier destruction of Constantinople by the Latin Crusaders in 1204? (Following the loss of a weakened Constantinople to Islam in 1453, the Eastern Church has disintegrated into local national Churches.)
SUMMARY: Councils [and real synods] are what the Church DOES, not what the Church IS (Benedict XVI). How always to better do communio/ecclesial assemblies remains a distinctly different work in progress.
I note that your casual rebuttal of my assertion sidesteps three major problems:
1) The Filioque is indeed set aside by the ITC text through the quotation of a very explicit ecumenical text (in note 8), whereas this document was supposed to contribute to putting Christ, and therefore the Son of God, back at the center.
2) Even though the Filioque is set aside, the statement “The Father also gives everything to the Spirit” (in n.12) is an assertion that implicitly refutes it, which is why it makes absolutely no sense in the Catholic tradition. You will find no trace of it anywhere except in Orthodox “literature.”
3) This serious doctrinal difficulty has not been noted anywhere in the Catholic media. ND’s commentary is almost unique in linking both the ITC text and the Filioque.
I think we are faced with a serious difficulty here, and I look forward to reading your response, as I have no doubt that you will recognize the surprising nature of this observation, whatever conclusions may be drawn from it.
PS: Charlemagne was indeed responsible for the spread of the Filioque in the Christian West, but precisely because he categorically rejected the “per Filium.”
Fn. 8: “Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, ‘The Greek and the Latin Traditions Regarding the Procession of the Holy Spirit’: «The Catholic Church acknowledges the conciliar, ecumenical, normative and irrevocable value, as expression of the one common faith of the Church and of all Christians, of the Symbol professed in Greek at Constantinople in 381 by the Second Ecumenical Council. No profession of faith peculiar to a particular liturgical tradition can contradict this expression of the faith taught and professed by the undivided Church» (Eng. trans. from: L’Osservatore Romano, 13 September 1995).”
I do see your point, but it is still not clear why the ITC language about the added Filioque risks contradiction—rather than remaining a non-contradictory clarification or development.
At a general audience on Nov. 7,1990, Pope John Paul II was still able to conclude with the optimism that “the formula ‘Filioque’ does not constitute an essential obstacle to the dialogue itself and to its development, which all hope for and pray for in the Holy Spirit” (“The Filioque Debate,” in The Pope Speaks, Our Sunday Visitor, 36:2, March/April 1971). In the article—about development—he cites Gospel passages (prior to ‘Orthodox literature’) and the long history of the debate, and refers to both sides (the East: Ephraim, Athanasius, Basil, Epiphanius, Cyril of Alexandria, Maximus, John Damascene; The West: Tertullian, Hilary, Ambrose, Augustine, Aquinas).
Recalling the high point, short-lived, when a common definition was adopted by both the Greeks and the Latins in 1439: “In the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with the approval of this sacred and universal Council of Florence, we establish that this truth of faith must be believed and accepted by all Christians: and thus all must profess that the Holy Spirit IS ETERNALLY OF THE FATHER AND THE SON [caps added], that He has His existence and His subsistent being FROM THE FATHER AND THE SON together, and that He proceeds from the one and from a single principle and from a single spiration [….] We establish…that the explanation given of the expression ‘Filioque’ has been added to the Creed licitly and with reason, in order to render the through clearer and because of the incumbent needs of those times.”
My non-professional (evasive?) and overarching thought is, that within earthbound history, the culture of the West seems to need more precise and explicit clarifications, while the culture of the East remains more levitated and atmospheric. About the challenges of history in the West, the (schismatic) East remains apart from not only Florence but all of the other twenty-one ecumenical councils after the first seven.
After a thousand years, maybe there’s a place for partly cross-cultural (?) dialogue on the Filioque.
Let’s be clear: the Filioque is not “added,” it is set aside by the ITC document.
What is added is the idea, which is absolutely contradictory to the Filioque, that “the Father also gives everything to the Spirit.”
This is unprecedented in Catholic doctrine because it is incompatible with the way the Filioque has always been understood since Augustine.
Do you see the problem now?
‘ INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL COMMISSION
Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour
1700th anniversary of the Ecumenical Council of
325-2025
Preliminary note
In the course of its tenth quinquennium, the International Theological Commission chose to carry out an in-depth study of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea and its dogmatic relevance today. The work was carried out by a special Sub-Commission, chaired by Fr. Philippe Vallin and composed of the following members: Mgr Antonio Luiz Catelan Ferreira, Mgr Etienne Vetö, I.C.N., Fr. Mario Ángel Flores Ramos, Fr Gaby Alfred Hachem, Fr. Karl-Heinz Menke, Prof. Marianne Schlosser, and Prof. Robin Darling Young.
General discussions on this subject took place both at the various meetings of the Sub-Commission and at the plenary sessions of the Commission itself, held in the years 2022-2024. This text was put to the vote and unanimously approved in forma specifica by the members of the International Theological Commission at the plenary session of 2024. The document was then submitted for approval to its President, His Eminence Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, who, after receiving the favourable opinion of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, authorised its publication on 16 December 2024. ‘
https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_doc_20250403_1700-nicea_en.html