Pope praises Communion and Liberation for witness to Christian life

Published: 2007-03-26

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI praised the Catholic lay movement Communion and Liberation for seeking to pay witness to the beauty of being Christian in an age of skepticism. He recalled how the late Pope John Paul II commended the way the movement aimed to present the Christian faith as a source of "new values" that could guide every aspect of one's life in a manner that was both "captivating and in harmony with modern-day culture." Before a crowd of more than 80,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square, Pope Benedict paid tribute March 24 to a movement that "would pay witness to the beauty of being Christian in an age in which the opinion that Christianity might be burdensome or oppressive was widespread." The gathering and the pope's comments commemorated the 25th anniversary of pontifical recognition of the movement's Fraternity of Communion and Liberation. The fraternity is an association of pontifical right, or Vatican-based legal status, made up of adults who wish to make a more formal commitment to the movement's ideals.

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .