Valentina Ciciliot

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal (hereafter, CCR), which officially started at Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA, USA) in 1967 when two Catholics claimed to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, spread rapidly around the world, and today has more than 120 million followers. The attitude of the Catholic hierarchy towards the CCR has not always been the same: at first, it distanced itself from this movement, later it moved toward its legitimization, which was achieved due to the work of Cardinal Léon Joseph Suenens’s mediation, and eventually for its Roman centralization, which was pursued by the efforts of Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes and the Pontifical Council for the Laity. The election of Pope Francis has recently opened a new chapter in relations between Catholic charismatics and the Vatican. If Francis seems no longer to perceive the CCR as a phenomenon to be integrated more for its strategic value than for its spiritual richness and to accept it in its uniqueness and heterogeneity, then his ecclesiastical plan to create an all-inclusive organizational identity such as CHARIS resembles a previous Vatican attitude toward the movement. The aim of this paper is to investigate the most recent history of the CCR by analyzing Francis’s viewpoints and his interactions with Catholic charismatics the a global perspective.

The article analyses the content of the relationes ad limina submitted to the Vatican by US bishops between 1949 and 1954. These documents shed light on the episcopate’s views and actions during the second post-war period, emphasising the growth of the US Catholic Church and its gradual advance within the US society as a relevant religious force. The US bishops’ main concerns appear to be secularism (or indifferentism), their competitive relationship with Protestant denominations, the educational system, and the use of new media, such as radio and television. The racial question also emerged.

During his pontificate John Paul II proclaimed 1342 beati and 482 saints, such a large amount that it accounts for more than half of the sanctifications across the entirety of Catholicism stretching back to the Congregation of Rites (1588). Along with such fruitful use of sanctification came a certain planning that was not only pastoral in nature, but also political, in the broadest sense of the term. The essay aims to analyse how under John Paul II’s pontificate the traditional concept of holiness began to mutate, taking on multiple functions, while its concrete manifestations – beatifications and canonisations – became active instruments of ecclesiastical government.

The official origins of the Catholic Charismatic renewal can be traced to Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA), in 1967, when a group of Catholics was baptized in the Holy Spirit. The movement soon spread to theUniversity of Notre Dame (South Bend, IN) and Michigan State University(East Lansing, MI), and the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), all of which became centres of the expanding renewal. While the Catholic hierarchy initially distanced itself, this approach was later superseded by the legitimization of the movement, which was achieved due to the work of Cardinal Léon Joseph Suenens’s mediation between the CatholicCharismatic renewal and the Vatican, and eventually by the centralizing effort pursued by Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes and the Pontifical Council for the Laity. The aim of this paper is to reflect on what happened to the Catholic Charismatic movement from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, how it developed as it moved geographically from the United States to the world, and how it was transformed by passing through Rome.

The origins of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (hereafter, CCR) can be traced to Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA), in 1967, when two Catholics were baptised in the Holy Spirit. The movement soon spread to the University of Notre Dame (South Bend, IN), Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) and the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), all of which became centres of the expanding renewal. Here were the first organisational forms of the movement, such as the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service Committee (CCRSC, later NSC), and several other organised attempts at outreach, such as the Notre Dame Conferences. This article analyses the initial Catholic charismatic experiences in Indiana and Michigan, the formation of the first charismatic communities and the immediate reaction of the ecclesiastical authorities. While the Catholic hierarchy initially distanced itself, this approach was later superseded by the legitimisation of the movement, which was achieved due to the work of a number of theologians who located the movement’s religious practices within the tradition of the Church, to Cardinal Léon Joseph Suenens’s work of mediation between the CCR and the Vatican and to Pope Paul VI’s welcome offered to Catholic charismatics at the Grottaferrata Conference (Italy) in 1973.

A saint under the spotlight: mother Teresa of Calcutta between antiabortion fight and glo-balised charity. Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) is a world-renowned personality in XX th-XXI st centuries. She founded the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity and was the recipient of numerous honours, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Tireless promoter of the dignity of human life, she was beatified by John Paul II on October, 19th 2003, and canon-ised by Francis on September, 4 th 2016, thanks to one of the fastest canonisation process in the history of the Catholic Church. However, her figure has raised negative and controversial aspects. Beside an image of social apostolate among poor, it comes to light the strategy to present mother Teresa as a guardian of the " culture of life " , a key concept in wojtylian pontificate , and later on, as a global saint of charity, perfect model for the Jubilee of Mercy in 2016.

Le volume, produit par une équipe internationale, se concentre sur le pontificat dans l’époque contemporaine et examine certains de ses changements, engendrés, parmi d’autres causes, par le complexe rapport avec la modernité sociale, politique, culturelle. Dans ce contexte, la papauté, à travers des processus parfois lents et contradictoires, a été modernisée et elle a appris à se confronter avec la modernité pas seulement dans des façons antagonistes, au contraire en accroissant la capacité d’être en phase avec les dynamiques de la société globale. Plusieurs éléments exposés dans le volume (par référence à la crise moderniste, aux deux guerres mondiales, à l’antisémitisme et à la Shoah, à la modernité et à la sécularisation, et aussi au procès de mondialisation) permettent de saisir les difficultés qui ont marqué la cohabitation parmi le Saint-Siège, l’Église catholique et la modernité, de Pie X aux ouvertures du pape François.

ll volume ripercorre la storia della santità, in particolare quella femminile, durante il pontificato di Giovanni Paolo II, individuando un’attenta politica delle canonizzazioni, divenute veri e propri strumenti di governo ecclesiastico.

Beate e sante furono infatti il cavallo di battaglia della Chiesa cattolica wojtyłiana, contro la secolarizzazione e il relativismo etico e culturale, e per affermare la propria visione nei riguardi delle questioni biopolitiche, come la difesa della vita e della famiglia tradizionale.

Attraverso l’analisi dei processi canonici, della letteratura agiografica e dei pronunciamenti magisteriali ufficiali vengono così qui ricostruite le diverse storie di donne elevate alla gloria degli altari dal papa polacco, dimostrando che personalità come Gianna Beretta Molla o madre Teresa di Calcutta sono gli esempi più eclatanti della reinterpretazione della figura del santo operata da Giovanni Paolo II, ma anche del modello di donna contemporanea offerta dal pontefice ai fedeli.