• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Pope Francis gives his blessing during Mass for the feast of Mary, Mother of God, and World Peace Day on New Year's Day in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Jan. 1, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Pope: Diversity in the church must be embraced, not feared

January 2, 2024
By Justin McLellan
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Different ways of living out the Catholic faith, including different liturgical rites, should not be seen as threats to the unity of the Catholic Church but embraced as expressions of the body of Christ, Pope Francis said.

“You don’t have to be afraid of the diversity of charisms in the church,” the pope said in a video released Jan. 2, sharing his prayer intention for the month of January: “For the gift of diversity in the church.”

The title of Pope Francis’ January prayer intention, “For the gift of diversity in the Church,” is seen in a screengrab taken from a video message from the pope on the day of its release Jan. 2, 2024. (CNS screengrab/The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network)

“We are not all the same,” he said, and Catholics should “rejoice in living this diversity.”

Pope Francis recalled how in the first Christian communities, “diversity and unity were very present and in a tension that had to be resolved at a higher level.”

The pope also noted that “to move forward on the path of faith we also need ecumenical dialogue with brothers and sisters from other confessions and Christian communities.”

Dialogue, he said, is not “something that confuses or bothers, but a gift God gives to the Christian community so that it may grow as one body, the body of Christ.”

Pope Francis pointed to Eastern Catholic churches, who, he said, “have their own traditions (and) some characteristic liturgical rites but maintain the unity of the faith. They reinforce it, they do not divide it.”

The two-minute video shows several scenes from Eastern Catholic liturgical celebrations, such as using a spoon to distribute Communion and giving a blessing with large liturgical candlesticks.

Although they have their own liturgical and legal system, each Eastern church is considered fully equal in dignity to the Latin tradition within the Catholic Church.

The pope added that if the church lets itself be guided by the Holy Spirit, “richness, variety, diversity never provoke conflicts.”

The Holy Spirit, he said, “reminds us that before all we are children of God, all the same in the love of God and all different.”

Pope Francis ended the video asking people to pray to the Holy Spirit “so that it may help us recognize the gift of different charisms of Christian communities and to discover the wealth of different ritual traditions within the Catholic Church.”

Read More Vatican News

Stop the hatred; humanity is at stake, Pope Leo says in video message

New Catholic scouting patch honors Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo visits Italian Carabinieri station, Poor Clares during summer break

Caring for others, serving life is the ‘supreme law,’ pope says

Jesus did not ignore those in need, and neither should Christians, pope says

Cardinal Czerny asks church to remember seafarers on Sea Sunday

Copyright © 2024 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Justin McLellan

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Hunt Valley parishioner recalls her former student – a future pope

  • superman Movie Review: ‘Superman’

  • Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

  • Loyola University Maryland graduate ordained Jesuit priest

  • Pope Leo visits Italian Carabinieri station, Poor Clares during summer break

| Latest Local News |

Father Robert Wojsław dies at 52

Scopes Monkey Trial ignited century-long debate on evolution and belief 

Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

Radio Interview: The music and ministry of Seph Schlueter

Hunt Valley parishioner recalls her former student – a future pope

| Latest World News |

Church of England weighs proposal to place St. Thomas More’s skull in shrine for veneration

Stop the hatred; humanity is at stake, Pope Leo says in video message

As excavation begins at Irish maternity home, Catholic experts urge fact-based news reporting

White House agrees to exempt PEPFAR from rescissions package

From Boston to Baton Rouge, faithful unite to help Texas flood victims

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Church of England weighs proposal to place St. Thomas More’s skull in shrine for veneration
  • Father Robert Wojsław dies at 52
  • Stop the hatred; humanity is at stake, Pope Leo says in video message
  • As excavation begins at Irish maternity home, Catholic experts urge fact-based news reporting
  • Question Corner: Can we bring the Precious Blood to the sick?
  • Impact of DOGE cuts on migrants, refugees
  • White House agrees to exempt PEPFAR from rescissions package
  • From Boston to Baton Rouge, faithful unite to help Texas flood victims
  • New Catholic scouting patch honors Pope Leo XIV

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en