AN INTERVIEW WITH REV. FR. RANIERO CANTALAMESSA OFM, CAPUCHIN & PREACHER TO THE PAPAL HOUSEHOLD

AN INTERVIEW WITH REV. FR. RANIERO CANTALAMESSA OFM, CAPUCHIN

& PREACHER TO THE PAPAL HOUSEHOLD

The following interview was arranged by Rev. Fr. Andrew OFM with Rev. Fr. Cantalamessa who was the key speaker during the 3^rd Gulf Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conference held in Muscat Oman during 5^th to 7^th October 2014. It was conducted by Charisarabia team members Felix Raj, Aby Punoose and Myra D’Souza. Rev. Fr. Francis Kharjia sdb was also invited to join the team.

Father Raniero Cantalamessa is a Franciscan Capuchin Catholic Priest. He was born in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, on 22 July 1934 and was ordained priest in 1958. In 1979 he resigned his teaching position to become a full time preacher of the Gospel. He was appointed by Pope John Paul II Preacher to the Papal Household in 1980 he continued to hold that position through the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 and has again been confirmed by Pope Francis. In this capacity he preaches a weekly sermon in Advent and Lent in the presence of the Pope, the cardinals, bishops and prelates of the Roman Curia and the general superiors of religious orders. He is also well known Charismatic preacher and is frequently invited to speak in many countries around the world, to both Catholic and Protestant audiences.

When he is not engaged in preaching, he lives in a hermitage, at Cittaducale (Rieti) ministering to a small community of cloistered nuns.

Father can you tell us something about your vocation? How did you know that you wanted to become a priest?

I am very happy to answer this question because it reminds me of my true encounter with the Lord. At the age 12 the year after the end of the world war I entered the Capuchin college I had not yet decided what to do in life, a few weeks later we had a retreat in college and for the first time I was exposed to the great truths of our faith, love of our Lord Jesus and eternal life. During these mediations I discerned with incredible clarity a clear calling to become a religious priest – I never doubted my calling. 

Why did you choose to join the Capuchins?

God uses very particular human circumstances. I happened to have an uncle, a brother of my mother who was a Capuchin so it was quite natural to direct me towards this particular order but later on it was my choice and I am happy to be follower of St.  Francis of Asissi.

Can you tell us a little about your early experiences in the Charismatic Renewal and how you were first came into the renewal?

I intend to share something more about this during my talk later on so you can take what I share during my witness.

*(After receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit I discovered that the Word of God was alive. When I prayed with the psalms, they seemed written just for me from before. Then, when I went from Convent Station in New Jersey, to the monastery of the Capuchins in Washington, I felt attracted to the Church as by a magnet and this was a discovery of prayer — and it was a Trinitarian prayer. 

The Father seemed impatient to speak to me of Jesus and Jesus wanted to reveal the Father to me. I think the Lord made me accept, after much resistance, the effusion, the baptism in the Spirit, and then many things happened over time.) 

 

Father I believe you know some of the first Charismatics like Patti Mansfield and others who experienced the Charismatic renewal in the United States when it first started at the now famous Duquesne weekend that helped unleash the Charismatic Renewal in the Roman Catholic Church in the late 1960s. 

Yes. I joined the renewal 10 years after it had begun in the Catholic Church. I went to the United States to attend a charismatic rally and after that I attended a retreat in the United States there I met Patti Mansfield. I am her spiritual father now she is coming to Italy next month and we will minister together at a regional meeting. An article written by this lady impressed me very much so I started thinking of the Charismatic Renewal not as a very strange novelty but as something that the Lord wanted.

Do you see the Charismatic renewal as movement or as a way of life?

Properly speaking, almost all of us agree that this is a movement that is quite unlike other movements because it has no founder, no rule, no structure, or spirituality of its own but has been initiated by the Holy Spirit in different places. We cannot identify one place because really the fire was everywhere, it began in many, many places because it was what the Lord wanted.

I agree with Cardinal Suenens when he defines the renewal as a current of grace that is lost in the mass of the Church this is true precisely because it consists in living our Christian life in the Spirit. For St Paul living in Christ and living a life in the Spirit is the same. I myself could join the charismatic renewal without renouncing my particular vocation as a Franciscan as it is not in contrast with any vocation rather it helps in living one’s vocation in the Holy Spirit.  

Of course this is not a way of making oneself just before the Lord. St. Paul before his conversion thought that he could become just by serving the law but when he met the Lord he saw that everything else was worthless. But until this current of grace has been received by the whole Church it is good that the charismatic renewal exists as a movement because those who are in the renewal are an indispensable tool for others to share in this experience and to allow the flame of the Spirit to pass on.  We should consider ourselves only as a channel through which the flame of the Holy Spirit passes through the Church.  

One of my meditations to the Pope and the papal household was precisely on the Baptism of the Spirit. A year after I was elected as preacher to the papal household in 1980 I felt compelled to speak on the Baptism of the Spirit before the cardinals of the Roman Curia I spoke of it as a grace meant for the whole Church and I was quite bold in saying that. At the end I was afraid of what the audience would say. While we were going to meet Pope John Paul II after the sermon, a Cardinal  stopped me on the way, he was visibly touched and he said, “Today we have heard the Holy Spirit speaking to us.” 

Unfortunately, sometimes it is our fault for the delay of this acceptance by the whole Church because the charismatic Renewal is made up of human persons with their shortcomings. Also it is quite easy for people to identify the renewal as something strange when they see charismatics praying all the time for healing and deliverance and so on but this was also true at the time of St. Paul. He too had to direct the exercise of charisms, this means having the courage to use them with discernment and to ensure that persons who exercise them do not abuse them. Humility is our best ally so we must be able to acknowledge our failures and always listen to the voice of the Church. 

Certainly Pope Francis is a great promoter of the Charismatic renewal. I attended some meetings in Buenos Aires with him a year before his election as Pope and we attended together at a charismatic ecumenical rally. 7000 people were there and he was one among the others. He knelt down as people prayed over him. He is a man of the Spirit. Of course as Pope he cannot identify himself with any particular movement but he certainly is a charismatic.

Talking about humility and obedience- is it because of the lack of these virtues the reason why we see that the charismatic renewal is on the decline? We see less and less number of people attending prayer meetings is this is a phenomenon found everywhere? This is true in the Gulf or at least in Kuwait here we are not as fervent as we once were,our numbers are declining and we don’t know why this is so. Is it because there are many other spiritual movements now the Church or have we lost the fire?

The problem is less evident here than in Europe and America. Part of the problem is in increasing the numbers. It is in the nature of the charismatic movement to express a great energy like when a volcano explodes then there is a time for a settling down, for calm, so it does not mean that the dwindling of numbers of people does not mean that the work of the Spirit is diminishing. Many people who have been touched by the Holy Spirit are now serving the Church in other ministries as catechists and so on and so our role is to help people to renew themselves renew their baptism and then serve the Church. Thanks be to God that through the renewal we now have many dedicated people in the Church. The problem is the youth. It is difficult to get the youth involved.

We are losing the youth is this because of a lack of parental insistence on religious values, is this the reason why the Church is losing the youth?

It is true the mass of youth is going away but there is a minority which is much more dedicated than they used to be. Nowadays the front stage evangelization is done by some youth organizations in France and other places and while we see that Christianity as a whole is diminishing in quantity, we are not diminishing by any means in quality because young people are more motivated nowadays than they used to be. As Pope Benedict XVI said, we must become reconciled with the idea of being a minority provided we are a minority of the leaven. 

Recently I preached at a regional gathering at a charismatic renewal in northern Italy and there were so many young people there and we were surprised because in Italy also we are losing a majority of the youth but some of the young people are starting to come back and this is possible provided we can get young people to evangelize young people.

There are so many voices speaking now through the internet and other media.

It is a kind of miracle nowadays to see a young person deciding for Jesus.  It is a miracle – it is like when Jesus passed and said to somebody, “Come follow Me” to convince young people now a days to separate themselves from the mentality of the culture and the company also is quite a challenge for a young person.

Do you think the World Youth days help in drawing young people to God?

There are many such organizations that have played a role like Youth 2000. In Germany last month I preached in a place where a youth organization started after the World Youth day in Germany so they had a retreat for 2 days only for young people and for the first time I had 1000 young people boys and girls only young people and we can say that the Holy Spirit was just as powerful as it was in 1967. People who receive the Baptism of the Spirit nowadays have the same experience today as when it first began which means the Holy Spirit is unchanging, He is always available and is always at work.

The Charismatic Renewal has brought a lot that is intrinsically good, unfortunately some within have been bad examples. Part of it being a lack of personal holiness and a lack core values within the family if you were to speak to Charismatic families’ today husband and wife what advise would you give them?

First of all as I have said many times, you need the Holy Spirit. To stay together husband and wife especially nowadays when marriage is under attack from everywhere you need the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a specialist because the Holy Spirit is the self giving in God. The Holy Spirit is the Father giving Himself to the Son and the Son giving Himself to the Father and marriage is precisely the Sacrament of self giving.  To keep a marriage fresh and renewed the grace of the Holy Spirit is necessary. Sometimes the Spirit renews a marriage in a dramatic way I have witnessed many marriages miraculously restored to new life, more alive than when they were first married. But usually this starts with the couple realize that they can no longer manage on their own they are not sufficient to keep the marriage united against the wind against the current and to let the Holy Spirit to come into a marriage means to let Jesus come into the marriage. Prayer and reading the word of God and attending some prayer group is essential. Many marriages have been renewed because one of the couple attended a charismatic meeting and his love was restored.

It is difficult to  convince them that their will is not sufficient to keep them together they need to ask the Holy Spirit to enter into their marriage. A very famous T.V. preacher in the United States Bishop Fulton Sheen wrote a book Three To Get Married.  Today we can say the third person is the Holy Spirit.

What comments can you make on the Synod on the Family which is currently going on what do you expect to come from it?

I do not know. Certainly the Church is taking courageous steps this problem needed to be faced. We could no longer go on ignoring the problem or hoping it would fix itself.  We must admire the courage of the Pope for putting the issue for discussion before the Bishops this is what collegiality is about. We can expect there will be different voices, different opinions but we pray and hope the Holy  Spirit will give the Church the Spirit of Jesus because the spirit of Jesus is truth and mercy which go together. Saying what is true but with mercy also. This is what the Pope is stressing all the time.

You have now preached to 3 different popes how do you stay humble?

You know there is more merit in listening to the preacher than to preach. I admire the humility of the Popes for listening to me.

Are you aware that you have a formidable reputation Father many of us are here because this would perhaps be our only opportunity to hear you preach?

You know I do not preach my own message, my own theological systems I preach the Gospel and I am so sure that the Gospel has something to say that is important.  The Word of Jesus deserves to be heard.

What is similar to three Popes is there some characteristic common to all?

Everyone serves the Church with his own charisms they are each very different but I see that the fundamental unity is love. They love Jesus, they love the Church and they love each other. You know how much Pope Benedict loved Pope John Paul II and how much Pope Francis loves Pope Benedict - they are friends. Before Pope Benedict XVI was elected Pope I had to give an exhortation to the Cardinals. I said it is not necessary for the next pope to imitate John Paul II because at that time the authority of John Paul II was so great that it could discourage every successor and I said no, each one has to serve the Church with his own merits. Only Jesus can meet all the demands. This is why we need different popes to serve the Church according to her needs. 

Benedict XVI was a theologian, Pope Francis is more of a pastor this is quite clear and Pope John Paul II was everything. He had such a capacity to engage in any direction, spiritual, political, economical, artistic. He had a gigantic personality. He had the charism of communicating well on every level. 

Father can we expect some articles from publication in Charisarabia?

Much of my work is freely available on the internet my articles are also published by Zenit. I have no objection to you using them provided you say that it is translated in English by Zenit. 

Throughout the interview, which lasted a little under half an hour, Fr. Cantalamessa radiated the joy of the Lord. We concluded the interview after taking some a few group photographs with Father. 

Note:

*Excerpt taken from Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa’s witness and testimony with regard to his personal experience on receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit.