Home » CL, president Don Carron resigns. Decision after the Pope’s new rules

CL, president Don Carron resigns. Decision after the Pope’s new rules

by admin

A few lines to communicate the decision. Don Julian Carron’s resignation as president of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation does not come unexpectedly, after the pope’s “decree” a few months ago to limit the leadership of the Church’s movements to ten years. Carron, 71, from Spain, took over the leadership of CL in 2005 after the death of the founder, Fr Luigi Giussani. But the transitional norms of the new regulation issued by Bergoglio still gave less than two years, and so Carron played in advance and resigned, “to favor that the change of leadership to which we are called by the Holy Father takes place with freedom that this process requires “as he wrote in the letter of resignation.

The new leader will be chosen by the central Diaconia

The new rules concern all the movements of the Church, but certainly CL is by far the largest – about 300 thousand adherents in 70 countries – with deep roots both among priests and bishops, but also in professions, universities, and once upon a time. also in politics. At this point it will be the central diakonia, the governing body of the fraternity made up of a maximum of 40 members, to decide the steps to be taken. This procedure was also followed in 2005, but it was a formality, as Carron had already been indicated by the founder Fr Giussani, who had begun his journey in 1954 in Milan, with the experience of Student Youth. Now the game is open: “This will lead everyone to personally take responsibility for the charism”, writes Don Carrón in the letter to the movement: “It was an honor for me to exercise this service for years, an honor that fills me with humiliation for my limits and if I have failed against any of you. I thank God for the gift of companionship that I have been able to enjoy, in front of the spectacle of your daily witness, from which I have constantly learned and from which I want to continue to learn ”.

See also  Tipper overturned in Anzù di Feltre, disruption on the Feltrina

The relationship with Bergoglio is not easy

Much loved by John Paul II, but also by Benedict XVI (with less enthusiasm, perhaps), the relationship with Bergoglio was more tiring. The theme is that Francis does not have a particular inspiration with the movements, he often judges them to be a bit self-referential, and this had also emerged in past speeches. He said in 2015 in a meeting with the Movement: «’Going out’ also means rejecting self-referentiality, in all its forms, it means knowing how to listen to those who are not like us, learning from everyone, with sincere humility. When we are slaves of self-referentiality we end up cultivating a “spirituality of etiquette”: “I am CL”. This is the label. And then we fall into the thousand traps that self-referential complacency offers us, that looking at ourselves in the mirror that leads us to be disoriented and to become mere entrepreneurs of an NGO ».

l change of course in the relationship with politics

Over the years, Carron himself had followed a line of less and less presence of CL in politics, and this had generated some grumbling. The scandals in Lombardy (but not only) that had involved politicians from the ranks of the Movement had been experienced with suffering but in the end overcome: to remember a letter from Carron himself to Corriere della Sera in 2012 in which he wrote that those who made mistakes humiliated CL . And this after a year earlier the pope had appointed Angelo Scola archbishop of Milan, a prelate who had begun his path of priesthood just as a pupil of Giussani. So CL has been less present in politics for some time, but the Rimini Meeting remains a key event, albeit in different ways. Mario Draghi proved it: the 2020 Meeting was the only event at which the former ECB president agreed to speak. And on the same occasion he met Marta Cartabia – considered close to the movement – who then joined his government five months later.

The recent commissariat of the Memores Domini

Therefore, for CL the moment is delicate and passing, which will not only be at the top, but a moment of internal confrontation between the more ecclesial soul – perhaps more in tune with the feeling of this pontificate – and the more dynamic one that Italians have. known in past decades. In all this, two months ago the Pope decided to commission the Memores Domini, the lay association of Communion and Liberation whose members commit themselves to practicing chastity, poverty and obedience and often live in the “houses” of the movement in a monastic style. The Pope cleared the leadership and appointed as his “special delegate” Monsignor Filippo Santoro, archbishop of Taranto, a disciple of Fr Giussani, considered to all intents and purposes a moderate.

You may also like

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More

Privacy & Cookies Policy