Journeying together to build bonds of friendship and solidarity

Pope Francis invited members of the Commission for Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue to continue to journey “together in order to build bonds of friendship, solidarity and mutual understanding between Catholics and Pentecostals”. Members gathered in Rome from 8 to 14 July for their plenary session, which coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Commission’s founding. The following is the English text of the Holy Father’s message sent on the occasion.

To the Members of the
Commission for Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue

I offer cordial greetings to all taking part in the meeting marking the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Commission for Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue. I am grateful to the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, to the co-moderators of the Commission and to all who have worked to make this event possible.

Over the past fifty years, the Commission, through dialogue and reflection, has journeyed together in order to build bonds of friendship, solidarity and mutual understanding between Catholics and Pentecostals. It is my hope that this important anniversary will strengthen these bonds and renew your zeal to proclaim, as missionary disciples, the joy of the Gospel in the ecclesial community and in society as a whole. In this way, bearing witness to the Lord’s prayer that all may be one (cf. Jn 17:21), you will be able to help our brothers and sisters experience in their hearts and lives the transforming power of God’s love, mercy and grace.

With my prayerful best wishes for your deliberations during this meeting, I invoke upon all of you, your families and your associates Almighty God’s blessings of wisdom, joy and peace. And I ask you, please, to remember me in your prayers.

Rome, from Saint John Lateran, 8 July 2022

Francis