Pontifical recognition

Intuitions and paths that led the Community of Pope John XXIII to be officially recognised by the Church on 25 March 2004.

In September 1968, a summer camp with the participation of some young people with disabilities was held in Canazei, Italy. This was a revolutionary event for that time and, at the end of it, Father Oreste commented that, ‘What has just happened can be summed up in one sentence: the Lord has made us meet the poor and the poor have made us meet Christ’. The poor will mark every stage of development of the Community and, through the Holy Spirit, they will open the hearts and minds of its members.

In 1973, with the opening of the first family home, the Community started to become aware of its own specific spirituality and vocation.

In 1975, the then bishop of Rimini, Mgr. Emilio Biancheri, said that, ‘The Association is a small thing with regards to the number of its members, but its meaning and function in our diocese is a great thing’. We need to wait until 1979 – 1980 to have something officially written about this. However, some key points had already been established: the sense of belonging to the Church and the importance of obedience to the bishop in the dioceses where the Community was present. Moreover, in every family home there was a small chapel with the presence of Eucharistic Jesus and Adoration was done every day. Daily life shared with the poorest of the poor could be hard and, therefore, ‘in order to stand tall you need to kneel down’. Daily participation to Mass and meditation of the Word of God was and is regarded as necessary.

In 1980 Father Oreste Benzi asked for an ecclesial recognition of the Community to the then bishop of Rimini, Mgr. Giovanni Locatelli. The bishop, with the attentive love of a father, asked the Community to reflect upon itself and tell him about its identity, mission and path. The Community started to pray, reflect and share ideas about all this. At the end of a long period of time, a ‘scheme of life’ was drawn up. Here the Community described the vocation to which it felt called in order to answer the universal call to holiness and participate in the building of the Church.

In 1983 Mgr. Locatelli recognised the Community as an ecclesial association of the second type, as stated in the 1981 pastoral note of the Italian Episcopal Conference, ‘Criteria for the ecclesiality of groups, movements and associations of the faithful in the Church’. This was an invaluable gift: the Community knew then that it was not ‘running in vain’. It was also an encouragement to further deepen the understanding of its specific vocation, the main aspects of which were defined as: following the poor and servant Jesus who atones for the sin of the world by sharing directly the life of the least, leading life as the poor, making space for prayer and contemplation, letting oneself be led in obedience and living in fraternity. After having become aware of all this, the Community of Pope John XXIII started many new ways of sharing life with the poorest of the poor.

In the following years, some members understood the importance of living out the contemplative aspect of the vocation and, with the confirmation of the President, started to live a retired and poor life characterised by unceasing prayer.

At the beginning of the 90s the Community of Pope John XXIII had spread in various countries worldwide. This is why on 29 June 1994, Father Oreste Benzi, as founder of the Community, presented a letter to the Pontifical Council for the Laity of the Catholic Church in which he asked for a canonical recognition of the Community. The scheme of life was further discussed and meditated upon and the ‘Foundation Charter’, ‘Statutes’ and ‘Directory’ were drawn up. The latter explains how the guidelines contained in the first two documents should be translated into practice. For over 4 years the Holy See carried out its own investigations and deepened its understanding of the Community. Many Cardinals and Bishops who knew directly the Community and its activities testified to its ‘firm and faithful belonging to the Catholic Church and its evangelical and missionary service’.

On 7 October 1998 the Pontifical Council for the Laity recognised the Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII as a private international association of the faithful of pontifical right, with juridical personality, according to canons 298-311 and 321-329 of the Code of Canon Law. It also approved the Community’s Statutes and Foundation Charter ‘ad experimentum’, for a period of five years. During this time these documents were reviewed for possible alterations and corrections and on 11 June 2003 Father Oreste Benzi asked for their definitive approval.

On 25 March 2004, the solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, the Pontifical Council for the Laity confirmed the recognition of the Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII Association as a private international association of the faithful of pontifical right, with juridical personality, according to canons 298-311 and 321-329 of the Code of Canon Law and decreed the definitive approval of the Statutes and the Foundation Charter.

All the Community welcomed this recognition with overwhelming joy. Father Oreste Benzi called it ‘an invaluable gift’ since, as he wrote on the editorial of Sempre magazine in July 2004, ‘the Community members and those who are verifying their vocation can now be absolutely certain that the vocation of the Community is a sure path to holiness, to build the Kingdom of God, to participate in the mission of salvation of the Church, to remove the causes of marginalisation and to realise the new heaven and new earth where the justice of God reigns.’