Rome – In the previous instalment of this investigation we saw how the theological and pastoral approach of Fr. Julián Carrón progressively reshaped the relationship of Communion and Liberation (CL) with politics, suffering and the scandals that have affected the movement. Now we take a step back, to the days when the legacy of Fr. Luigi Giussani translated into concrete choices regarding the leadership of the Fraternity: why, at his death, did the movement pass precisely into the hands of the Spanish priest? With documents in hand, we reconstruct the path that led to that decision and the internal struggle – without any evangelical root – that flared up around the founder’s preference for Carrón, with jealousies, resistances and stances that would deeply mark the subsequent history of CL.
Fr. Giussani: «Follow Carrón»
Fr. Luigi Giussani clearly indicated Fr. Julián Carrón as his successor at different moments, in different places and circumstances, all of them documented. In the summer of 1997, at the Spiritual Exercises of the novices of the Memores Domini in La Thuile, he openly said: «If Carrón were to take on the role that I have, I would be most happy». On 26 January 2004, in Milan, writing to the Holy Father John Paul II on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of the movement, he asked the Pope for «the strength of a figure like our father Julián Carrón» to support the leadership of CL. A few weeks later, during a meeting of the National Council of Communion and Liberation, again in Milan, he communicated that he had obtained the assent of Cardinal Rouco Varela and of the Pontiff to the transfer of Carrón, speaking of his «dream» of having him permanently at his side and describing this choice as «a gift for the ecclesial community». Finally, in February 2005, in the house in via Martinengo in Milan, during the last days of his life, he left the most explicit and affectionate indication: «Our strength, our charism, is the unity between Carrón and me. Follow Carrón».
The passage from the founder’s will to the concrete acts of the Fraternity took place on 19 March 2005. In Milan the central Diaconia of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation met to proceed to the appointment of the new president, after the death of Fr. Giussani on 22 February 2005. All the members of the Diaconia took part in the meeting, 27 in person and 2 by proxy; the proceedings were carried out by secret ballot, with the polling station chaired by the bishop-elect S.E.R. Msgr. Luigi Negri. From the vote a clear result emerged: Fr. Julián Carrón was elected almost unanimously, with a single blank ballot, the one whom Giussani had wanted at his side for about a year, calling him from Spain with the full consent of Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela. That choice, however, did not remain an internal fact of the Diaconia. The unanimous election of Fr. Julián Carrón on 19 March 2005 was, within a few years, projected onto the most visible level of universal ecclesial life, to the point of becoming a strong point by which the movement reread itself and its own role in the Church.
Communion, charism, mission
On 24 March 2007, in St Peter’s Square, Benedict XVI met, for the first time after the death of the founder, the participants in the pilgrimage promoted by Communion and Liberation for the 25th anniversary of the pontifical recognition of the Fraternity. It was the first great «public baptism» of Carrón as president: the Pope mentioned him explicitly, thanked him for the words addressed in the name of the movement, and from the outset linked his greeting to the figure of Fr. Luigi Giussani, calling him a personal friend and recalling that he had presided at his funeral in the Duomo of Milan in 2005. In that speech Ratzinger carried out two decisive operations. On the one hand, he repositioned CL within the history of the post-conciliar movements, recognising that the Holy Spirit had raised up, «through him» [Giussani], an experience born not from an organisational plan of the hierarchy, but from a renewed encounter with Christ. On the other, he clarified the nature of this charism: the movement is called to «bear witness to the beauty of being Christians» at a time when Christianity is perceived as a burden; its originality lies in reproposing the “Christian event” in a way that is attractive and culturally relevant.
The Pontiff also insisted on an ecclesiologically delicate point: there is no opposition between the institutional dimension and the charismatic dimension of the Church, because they are «co-essential». The movements, if they are truly gifts of the Spirit, must insert themselves into the ecclesial community, work in dialogue with the pastors, and become a factor in the edification of the Church of today and of tomorrow. It is a strong legitimation, but accompanied by an equally clear condition: loyal communion with the Successor of Peter and with the bishops.
Four days later, on 28 March 2007, Carrón wrote to the members of the Fraternity to interpret what had taken place in St Peter’s Square. The letter marked a turning point in his reading of the charism of CL. The audience was defined as an «event that will mark our history forever»: the people of CL, «aware of their frailty», recognised themselves as embraced by the Pope and, through him, by Christ. To explain the scope of what had happened, Carrón took up Giussani’s words on the recognition of Christ present and used them as a key to interpreting the audience with Benedict XVI, suggesting that precisely in that relationship with the Pope that «unparalleled exceptionalness» could today be experienced.
It is a theological and pedagogical key which, in fact, closely binds the history of the movement to the reading given of it by the president, when he «translates» the pontifical magisterium into the internal language of CL. In the same letter, Carrón summarised Benedict XVI’s speech in three points, which would become his interpretative grid of this same charism:
first of all, the recognition of the personal origin of the movement, born from the experience of Giussani, wounded by the desire for beauty, and from his ability to repropose the Christian event;
then, the confirmation that this charism remains in the experience of the “spiritual children” of the founder, that is, in the movement as it lives today;
finally, the missionary relaunch: the Pope’s invitation to bring «the truth, the beauty and the peace» of Christ to the whole world is taken up as a renewed programme, to be lived with a “deep, personalised faith, firmly rooted” in the Body of Christ which is the Church.
In this passage, a further turning point impressed by Carrón on the movement takes shape: a turning point not only explicitly requested by Benedict XVI, but of which the Spanish priest made himself one of the most convinced interpreters and supporters. On the social level, as we have seen, he reiterated that CL cannot be enlisted in a party alignment. On the ecclesial level, instead, he adopted a line that many leaders of other movements had not known or wanted to follow: to push CL out of sectarian and self-referential logics, fostering collaboration with the bishops, ordinary participation in diocesan life and, by this route, the encounter of Fr. Giussani’s charism with the rest of the People of God, in real communion with the pastors and with the Pope.
CL beyond itself
In 2008, Carrón entered directly into one of the highest places of ecclesial discernment: the Twelfth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (5–26 October), dedicated to «The Word of God in the life and in the mission of the Church». Benedict XVI appointed him Synodal Father; during the work, the bishops of the Spanish-language groupelected him relator, entrusting him with a key role in drafting the final propositions, in collaboration with the general relator. It was a further sign of institutional trust, but also the step that Carrón would use to redefine the self-awareness of the movement.
On 3 November 2008, a few weeks after the conclusion of the Synod, the priest wrote a new letter to the Fraternity. Starting from the synodal experience – where he had seen confirmed the idea that the Word of God is above all an «event», Jesus Christ present in history through the Church – he proposed an overall rereading of the history of CL in three “phases”.
The first phase is that of the beginnings: the irruption of the Spirit gives rise to the charism, which meets resistancesand misunderstandings, but also pays the price of the immaturity of its first protagonists.
The second phase is that of recognition: with John Paul II and then with Benedict XVI, up to the meeting of 24 March 2007, the movement receives full acceptance in the life of the Church.
The third phase, the «current» one, is defined as the time in which the charism is for the Church and for the world: the gift received cannot remain confined to the small world of CL, but is called to contribute to ecclesial renewal and to Christian witness in every environment.
In this perspective, Carrón invites the members of the movement to verify how, in their concrete circumstances, they can «contribute to the good of the Church»: not only through their presence in places of work, culture and charity, but also by means of forms of direct collaboration in ordinary ecclesial life – parish catechesis, pastoral services, commitments in diocesan structures – always «according to the nature of our charism», which would find its fulfilment in personal witness.
From the ecclesial point of view, the two-year period 2007–2008 marked a decisive step for the movement: on the one hand, the Supreme Authority presented it officially as a resource for the entire People of God, inserting it stably into the constellation of the new ecclesial movements; on the other, its president assumed an ever more visible role among those who, in the ecclesial panorama, live, observe and promote the season of the charisms in the Church.
The vultures around St Peter’s
The ecclesial and pastoral results of this passage did not remain without consequences. Alongside the fruits, envies, jealousies and conflicting interests multiplied. Thus a hostile front was consolidated, determined to cast a shadow over the work of the president of the Fraternity, in which at least two factors converged: the political question, on the part of those who would have liked the movement to be aligned along party lines, and the resistance of circles that had never accepted the opening to collaboration with the dioceses and to ordinary participation in the life of the local Churches. For such people, CL had to remain a reality apart, also in the field of presbyteral formation, and the line indicated by Carrón – which Silere non possum has documented in this first part of the investigation – was simply unacceptable. «We need to correct Fr. Giussani’s mistakes», stated, at the death of the founder, someone inside the movement who, although having managed to obtain the episcopate, had never managed to break through with “the Gius”, accumulating over time not a few resentments. It is with all this, with how the movement began to live starting from 2013, and with how this narrative was constructed – and by whom it was fuelled – that we will deal in the fourth instalment of this investigation.
fr. E.V. and M.P.
Silere non possum