Pope Francis asked “to work for fraternity and social friendship to rebuild the wounded world”, and urged not to give in to the temptation to shut up and wait in hiding better times, but to be a Church on the way out and to remember where we come from, what is our origin, to know the heart of the mother who one day gave birth to us. The Holy Father told this sending a message for the 30 years of the International Forum of Catholic Action.
In the letter, Pope Francis highlighted the figure of Cardinal Eduardo Pironio, who assured that he was “a deep dreamer who gave the beginning and encouragement to the creation of this forum” and that he was “a man of deep roots, of anchored memory in the dynamism of history as a Kairos, a strong time of salvation, a time of work, trial, purification, and hope. He loved Catholic Action and believed in his lay missionary vocation ”.
In this sense, the Pope emphasized that the work carried out by Catholic Action “opened new perspectives in the field of the responsibility of the laity in Evangelization. Many evangelized and formed by Catholic Action put truth, depth, and Gospel in civil areas, many times forbidden to faith. The lay saints and blesseds of Catholic Action are a treasure for the Church. Those who were ‘the saints next door’ of so many communities ”.
Although the pontiff spoke of times of “lights and shadows, moments of profound disorientation” in the history of Catholic Action and of the Church, the Pope encouraged not to fall into the temptation to shut up and wait hidden for better times, but to remember “where we come from, what is our origin, to know the heart of the mother who one day gave birth to us ”.
“The great temptation in times of crisis or difficulty is to shut yourself up to take care of what little you have, waiting, hiding, and cherishing memories, the arrival of better times. The parable of the talents is a faithful reflection of what happens when this temptation is installed and transformed into a way of being, of being in the world living the reality of an unreality ”, the Pope pointed out.