Charisms to Accompany

Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, has concluded the pastoral visit to Japan. On this occasion Pope Francis sent a letter to the local Bishops, highlighting the great contribution that the movements can make to the Church’s evangelizing mission.

“With their evangelistic impulse and witness, they can—as Francis writes—be of great help in the pastoral service and mission ad gentes. In fact, in the last decades, the Holy Spirit has inspired and inspires men and women in the Church who, through their participation, want to vivify the world in which they work, not rarely involving priests and religious, also as members of that People called by God to live their missionary life fully. These realities contribute to the work of evangelization.” Moreover, the Japanese bishops were invited to “know and accompany the charisms” because it is among them, that laypeople animated by a great missionary spirit can be found.

Speaking about the Pope’s message, the Bishop of Niigata and President of Caritas Japan, Msgr. Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi observed that it is an “encouragement for all” and added: “I am delighted to read how the Holy Father has perfectly highlighted the challenges we are facing in evangelizing Japan. I think I must say clearly that we Japanese Bishops fully understand and agree with what the Pope says in the message about the charismatic importance of the movements.”

After visiting Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Osaka, and Sendai, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples returned to Tokyo. There, he met the Seminarians and invited them to be courageous, saying that in a country where there is concern about the lack of vocations, future priests must be aware that “the future of the Church” also depends on their “generous gift to God” in a society “in which many do not yet know the Good News of salvation in Christ.”