VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 168   
   DATE 01-10-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - Charisms and their action in the Christian community   
   - Pope's greetings to the Little Apostles of Charity, invitation to pray the   
   rosary, and the memory of Blessed Alvaro del Portillo   
   - Pope Francis' prayer intentions for October   
   - Audiences   
      
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    Charisms and their action in the Christian community   
    Vatican City, 2014 (VIS) - The charisms that build the Church and make her   
   fruitful constituted the subject of Pope Francis' catechesis during today's   
   general audience in St. Peter's Square, attended by over 35,000 people.   
    "Ever since the beginning, the Lord has filled his Church with the gifts of   
   His Spirit, making her forever alive ... and among these gifts, we find some   
   that are particularly valuable for the edification and the progress of the   
   Christian community: these are charisms", said the bishop of Rome, explaining   
   that in everyday language we often refer to "charisma" in relation to a talent   
   or natural ability. However, from a Christian point of view, a charism is far   
   more than a personal quality, a predisposition or a gift: it is a grace, a   
   gift from God the Father, by the action of the Holy Spirit ... so that with   
   the same gratuitous love it may be placed at the service of the entire   
   community, for the good of all".   
    On the other hand, Pope Francis emphasised that alone it is impossible to   
   understand whether or not one has received a charism or what form it takes, as   
   it is within a community that we learn to recognise them as a sign of the   
   Father's love for all of His sons and daughters. It is therefore good for us   
   to ask ourselves, 'Has the Lord made a charism issue forth in me, in the grace   
   of His Spirit, that my brothers in the Christian community have recognised and   
   encouraged? And how do I act, in relation to this gift: do I experience it   
   with generosity, placing it at the service of all, or do I neglect it and end   
   up forgetting about it? Or does it perhaps become a pretext for pride, so that   
   I expect the community to do things my way?".   
    "The most beautiful experience, however, is discovering how many different   
   charisms there are, and with how many gifts of the Spirit the Father fills His   
   Church. This must not be regarded as a cause for confusion or unease: they are   
   all gifts that God gives to the Christian community, so that it might grow   
   harmoniously, in faith and in His love, like one body, the body of Christ. The   
   same Spirit that grants this diversity of charisms also constructs the unity   
   of the Church". He warned, "Beware, lest these gifts become a cause for envy,   
   division or jealousy! As the apostle Paul remarks in his First Letter to the   
   Corinthians, all charisms are important in the eyes of God, and at the same   
   time, no-one is indispensable. This means that in the Christian community   
   everyone needs the other, and every gift received is fully realised when it is   
   shared with brothers, for the good of all. This is the Church! And when the   
   Church, in the variety of her charisms, is expressed in communion, she cannot   
   err: it is the beauty and the strength of the 'sensus fidei', of that   
   supernatural sense of faith, that is given by the Holy Spirit so that together   
   we can enter into the heart of the Gospel and learn to follow Jesus in our   
   life".   
    Pope Francis went on to recall that today the Church commemorates St. Therese   
   of Lisieux, who died at the age of 24 and "loved the Church so much that she   
   wanted to be a missionary; she wanted to have every sort of charism. And in   
   prayer she realised that her charism was love. She said, 'In the heart of the   
   Church, I will be love', a beautiful phrase. And we all have this charism: the   
   capacity to love. Today let us ask St. Therese of the Child Jesus for this   
   capacity to love the Church, to love her dearly, and to accept all these   
   charisms with this filial love for the Church, for our hierarchical holy   
   mother Church".   
      
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    Pope's greetings to the Little Apostles of Charity, invitation to pray the   
   rosary, and the memory of Blessed Alvaro del Portillo   
    Vatican City, 2014 (VIS) - Before the catechesis of this Wednesday's general   
   audience in St. Peter's Square, the Pope received in the Paul VI Hall the   
   participants in the pilgrimage organised by the Secular Institute of the   
   Little Apostles of Charity, founded sixty years ago by Blessed Luigi Monza who   
   worked "with skill and love" in the care of the disabled. Pope Francis   
   mentioned the Institute in his catechesis as an example of the charism of care   
   for the most vulnerable, recalling that the work of Luigi Monza was supported   
   by Pope Paul VI when he was archbishop of Milan, Italy, and urged them to be   
   held as an example "for families and for those who hold public r   
   sponsibilities".   
    After the catechesis and during his greetings in various languages, the Holy   
   Father addressed German and Polish pilgrims, reminding them that October is   
   the month of the Holy Rosary, and invited them to meditate on the path and   
   work of Christ through the eyes of Mary, and to pray the rosary to accompany   
   the work of the Synod of Bishops on the family.   
    He also addressed the Portuguese-speaking faithful, including members of the   
   "Associacao Crista de Empresarios e Gestores" (Christian Association of   
   Businesspeople and Managers), encouraging them to persevere in their testimony   
   in society and to allow themselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit "to   
   understand the true path of history".   
    "Keep the flame of faith burning, ignited on the day of your baptism and   
   sustained by the example of the holy martyrs, so that others may see the joy   
   of your life in Christ", he said to pilgrims from Croatia.   
    "I also greet Bishop Javier Echevarria, prelate of Opus Dei, as well as the   
   faithful of the prelature present here to give thanks for the beatification of   
   Bishop Alvaro del Portillo", he concluded, in Spanish. "May the intercession   
   and the example of the new blessed help them to respond generously to God's   
   call to holiness and to the apostolate in ordinary life, in the service of the   
   Church and of the whole of humanity. Many thanks, and may God bless you".   
      
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    Pope Francis' prayer intentions for October   
    Vatican City, 2014 (VIS) - Pope Francis' universal prayer intention for   
   October is: "That Lord may grant peace to those parts of the world most   
   battered by war and violence".   
    His intention for evangelisation is: "That World Mission Day may rekindle in   
   every believer zeal for carrying the Gospel into all the world".   
      
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    Audiences   
    Vatican City, 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father received in audience Archbishop   
   Levon Boghos Zekiyan, apostolic administrator "sede plena" of Istanbul of the   
   Armenians, Turkey.   
    On Tuesday, 30 September, the Holy Father received in audience Rev. Mariano   
   Fassio, regional delegate of the prelature of Opus Dei.   
      
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