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Pope Francis to visit Pentecostal church in Italy
Catholic Herald ^
| July 11, 2014
| CINDY WOODEN
Posted on 07/11/2014 5:57:34 AM PDT by NYer
The Pope's visit to the church is likely to be 'extremely quick' (CNS)
Pope Francis will pay a brief “private visit” to the Italian church of a Pentecostal pastor he knew from Argentina, a Vatican spokesman has said.
The visit to the Evangelical Church of Reconciliation in Caserta, about 130 miles south of Rome, “is under study and likely would take place July 26″, said Fr Federico Lombardi.
Fr Lombardi said the Pope knew the church’s pastor, Giovanni Traettino, from Buenos Aires, where the Pentecostal pastor participated in ecumenical events with Catholics, especially Catholics belonging to the charismatic renewal movement. The then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, along with Traettino and Capuchin Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household, headlined a large ecumenical charismatic gathering in Buenos Aires in 2006.
Pope Francis mentioned his plan to make a Sunday visit to a Pentecostal church in late June when he met a group of evangelical pastors and televangelists at his Vatican residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae.
Brian Stiller of the World Evangelical Alliance, who was present at the meeting, wrote about the encounter on his Facebook page and on a blog.
“We talked about Christians marginalised, pressed under the weight of government power or the majority presence of other faiths,” Stiller wrote. “He listened and then told a remarkable story. In his years in and out of Rome, he became friends with the pastor of a Pentecostal church in Rome. In time he came to learn that the church and pastor felt the power and presence of the Catholic Church, with its weighty presence, obstructing their desire to grow and be a witness. ‘So,’ he said, ‘this July I will preach in his church on a Sunday and offer an apology from my Church for the hurt it has brought to their congregation.’”
Fr Lombardi said the Pentecostal friend the Pope was referring to was Mr Traettino. The spokesman did not comment on the rest of Mr Stiller’s account, other than to say the expected visit to Caserta would be “extremely simple and quick just for the morning”.
The meeting with the Pentecostal leaders took place June 24 and also included Kenneth Copeland, James and Betty Robison and Bishop Tony Palmer of the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches.
Bishop Palmer, who also knew the Pope from Buenos Aires, had a private meeting with him in January and used his iPhone to record a video message from the Pope to evangelicals.
“Pray to the Lord that he will unite us all,” the Pope said in the video. “Let’s move forward, we are brothers; let us give each other that spiritual embrace and allow the Lord to complete the work he has begun. Because this is a miracle; the miracle of unity has begun.”
Since 1972 the Vatican has co-sponsored an official dialogue with Pentecostal Christians, mainly focused on promoting mutual understanding and clarifying points of shared faith. In many parts of the world, Catholic leaders have complained about Pentecostals using harshly anti-Catholic rhetoric and questionable methods of proselytism to entice the faithful.
TOPICS: Catholic; Evangelical Christian; Ministry/Outreach; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: catholic; cult; italy; peacemaker; pentecostal; pope; popefrancis; tongues
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1
posted on
07/11/2014 5:57:34 AM PDT
by
NYer
To: Tax-chick; GregB; Berlin_Freeper; SumProVita; narses; bboop; SevenofNine; Ronaldus Magnus; tiki; ...
2
posted on
07/11/2014 5:57:52 AM PDT
by
NYer
("You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears." James 4:14)
To: NYer
I don’t know if I agree with this:
**So, he said, this July I will preach in his church on a Sunday and offer an apology from my Church for the hurt it has brought to their congregation.**
Why apologize for something the Catholic Church has done right?
But I do agree with this:
**In many parts of the world, Catholic leaders have complained about Pentecostals using harshly anti-Catholic rhetoric and questionable methods of proselytism to entice the faithful.**
3
posted on
07/11/2014 6:05:28 AM PDT
by
Salvation
("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
To: NYer
LOL, here we go! What rumor should we start about this? Why is this news? I swear every time this Pope passes wind there is a media blitz.
(btw, I am not criticizing you for posting it).
4
posted on
07/11/2014 6:05:34 AM PDT
by
defconw
(Both parties have clearly lost their minds!)
To: NYer
“Catholics belonging to the charismatic renewal movement”...
...are Catholics in name only.
5
posted on
07/11/2014 6:20:14 AM PDT
by
exPBRrat
To: exPBRrat
Catholics belonging to the charismatic renewal movement... ...are Catholics in name only.
TRUE ENOUGH!
To: exPBRrat
Catholics belonging to the charismatic renewal movement...
...are Catholics in name only.
...took the words right out of my mouth...
To: IrishBrigade
Catholics belonging to the charismatic renewal movement...
Now I’m thinking of people holding hands during the Our Father, raising their arms every time the priest does and that stupid guitar at Mass. Lord, deliver the Catholic Church from anything to do with protestantism.
8
posted on
07/11/2014 6:53:47 AM PDT
by
NKP_Vet
To: NKP_Vet
Lord, deliver the Catholic Church from anything to do with protestantism.Is this why you don't like a literally true Genesis? Because it's "Protestant?"
Perhaps you should also reject the "new testament," since Protestants believe in it as well.
To: exPBRrat
Didn’t Francis just attend a huge charismatic get-together? And get prayed on/blessed by a charismatic?
10
posted on
07/11/2014 7:12:23 AM PDT
by
piusv
To: Zionist Conspirator; NKP_Vet
This is a nuance in the internal debate an outsider will miss. 60-80% of what Protestants believe is Catholic teaching: Divinity of Christ, historicity of the Gospels, redemption of sin by Christ alone, everlasting life of the elect and salvation by grace alone, inerrancy of the Holy Scripture. Understand: the Protestantism is not a separate religion but a corruption of authentic Catholic Christianity. So when I Catholic says, “deliver us from Protestantism” he is speaking of the corruption, not of the core.
11
posted on
07/11/2014 8:08:07 AM PDT
by
annalex
(fear them not)
To: NYer
I hope this is an occasion characterized by charity on all sides.
12
posted on
07/11/2014 8:30:15 AM PDT
by
Tax-chick
(The world has enough land, food, water, clothing, and money. It doesn't have enough love.)
To: Zionist Conspirator
“Perhaps you should also reject the “new testament,” since Protestants believe in it as well”
You mean sort of like protestants IGNORE the Old Testament?
13
posted on
07/11/2014 9:05:02 AM PDT
by
NKP_Vet
To: Salvation
Why apologize for something the Catholic Church has done right?Because he is suffering from a severe case of ecumania. Very sad.
To: BlatherNaut
Please please PLEASE don’t talk in tongues while you’re there.
I’m ambivalent about the snakes.
15
posted on
07/11/2014 12:39:43 PM PDT
by
Jeff Chandler
(Conservatism is the political disposition of grown-ups.)
To: Jeff Chandler
Please please PLEASE dont talk in tongues while youre there. I am so very scared by that possibility. I don't know what I'll do if that happens...
16
posted on
07/11/2014 12:43:36 PM PDT
by
Legatus
(Either way, we're screwed.)
To: Legatus
17
posted on
07/11/2014 12:46:04 PM PDT
by
Jeff Chandler
(Conservatism is the political disposition of grown-ups.)
To: Salvation
**In many parts of the world, Catholic leaders have complained about Pentecostals using harshly anti-Catholic rhetoric and questionable methods of proselytism to entice the faithful.**Yeah, so we're the Whore of Babylon but our Pope is cool to them?
18
posted on
07/11/2014 12:47:06 PM PDT
by
Jeff Chandler
(Conservatism is the political disposition of grown-ups.)
To: Jeff Chandler
Im ambivalent about the snakes. He invites them to the Vatican.
To: BlatherNaut; Salvation; piusv
20
posted on
07/11/2014 3:56:18 PM PDT
by
ebb tide
(And the assembled fathers began to laugh, and then to cheer...)
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