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Pentecost is celebration of unity in diversity

VATICAN CITY — The Holy Spirit continues to give Christians different gifts and to call them to share those gifts with each other in a community marked by forgiveness and "unity in diversity," Pope Francis said on Pentecost.

"In a way both creative and unexpected," the pope said, the Holy Spirit "generates diversity, for in every age He causes new and varied charisms to blossom. Then He brings about unity: He joins together, gathers and restores harmony."

With tens of thousands of Catholic charismatics from around the world and with dozens of Pentecostal and evangelical leaders present, Pope Francis celebrated Pentecost Mass June 4 in St. Peter's Square and concluded a five-day celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Catholic charismatic renewal.

In his homily at the Mass, the pope said Christians can block the unity in diversity desired by the Holy Spirit by focusing on their differences rather than on what they share.

"This happens when we want to separate, when we take sides and form parties, when we adopt rigid and airtight positions, when we become locked into our own ideas and ways of doing things, perhaps even thinking that we are better than others," he said.

When the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples at Pentecost, he said, the first gift the Spirit brought was forgiveness for their sins and the grace to forgive others.

"Here we see the beginning of the Church, the glue that holds us together, the cement that binds the bricks of the house: forgiveness," he said.

Forgiveness "preserves unity despite everything, prevents collapse and consolidates and strengthens," he said. "Forgiveness sets our hearts free and enables us to start afresh."

Pope Francis began his Pentecost celebrations at an ecumenical vigil June 3 with some 50,000 Catholic charismatics and Pentecostals from more than 125 countries gathered for praise and worship at the site of the ancient Roman Circus Maximus.

Although less exuberantly, the pope, too, sang with his hands cupped open or with his hands raised. He stood between Michelle Moran, president of the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services, and Patti Mansfield, who was present when the Catholic charismatic renewal was born. In February 1967 Mansfield was one of the Duquesne University students, who experienced an outpouring of the Holy Spirit during a retreat.

The charismatic renewal is "a current of grace," Pope Francis told the crowd at the Circus Maximus. "It is a work that was born — Catholic? No. It was born ecumenical," with similar results in many denominations and with Pentecostals providing support and education to new Catholic charismatics.

"It was born ecumenical because it is the Holy Spirit who creates unity," the pope said. The Holy Spirit drew Catholics and Pentecostals together to profess that Jesus is Lord and "to proclaim together the Father's love for all His children." 

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