For ecclesial movements

In his prayer intention for the month of May, Pope Francis prays that “ecclesial movements and groups may daily rediscover their evangelizing mission, and that they place their own charisms at the service of the world’s needs”.

The video shows clips of faithful in different parts of the world participating in events with their respective ecclesial movements. These include prayer services, community gatherings and charitable projects.

The Pope notes that “ecclesial movements are a gift” and “a treasure in the Church”, and that they “renew the Church with their capacity for dialogue at the service of her evangelizing mission. Each day”, he says, “they rediscover in their charism new ways of showing the attractiveness and the newness of the Gospel”. The Holy Father explains that ecclesial movements seem different because they speak “different languages”, but that “it is their creativity that creates these differences”. He notes, too, that they always understand themselves and make themselves understood, and that they work “at the service of the Bishops and parishes to avoid any temptation to close in on themselves”.

Pope Francis concludes by urging ecclesial movements to “always be on the move, responding to the impulse of the Holy Spirit, to the challenges, to the changes in today’s world”, and to “remain in harmony with the Church, since harmony is a gift of the Holy Spirit”.

Commenting on this month’s prayer intention, Fr Frédéric Fornos, sj , Director of the Worldwide Prayer Network, notes how important it is that ecclesial movements “remain in movement” and that they continue to bear witness to the Gospel in different contexts “according to their own specific charism”.

Available online at www.thepopevideo.org and translated into 23 languages, the video for the prayer intention for May was created and produced by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, in cooperation with La Machi Agency and the Dicastery for Communication.