• During his homily on Pentecost Sunday, Pope Francis stated that the Catholic Church is facing two “recurrent temptations”. The first “seeks diversity without unity,” while the second “seeks unity without diversity.”

    He reminded us that these temptations go against the Spirit of the Risen Jesus, that on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit gathered the disciples into unity by giving a different gift to each one of them and began to speak in other languages” (see Acts 2:3-4).

    He warned against the danger of moving from extreme to extreme, saying, those who forget diversity eliminate freedom and those who forget unity destroy dialogue.

    He stated that the Holy Spirit “creates diversity and unity, and in this way forms a new, diverse and unified people: the universal Church.”

    Pope Francis also stressed that the arrival of the Holy Spirit brought the gift of forgiveness. It is an instrument that renews the heart, filling it with hope; “without forgiveness, the Church is not built up.”

    Click here to read the Pope’s message for Pentecost.