Catechesis of Pope Francis: Confirmation, the Sacrament of the Holy Spirit

Below is the complete catechesis of Pope Francis in the General Audience on October 30, titled “Confirmation, the Sacrament of the Holy Spirit”:

Today we continue our reflection on the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church through the Sacraments.

The sanctifying action of the Holy Spirit reaches us primarily through two channels: the Word of God and the Sacraments.

And among all the Sacraments, there is one that is, par excellence, the Sacrament of the Holy Spirit, and it is the one I would like to dwell on today. It is, as you have understood, Chrismation or Confirmation. In the New Testament, in addition to baptism with water, another rite is mentioned, that of the laying on of hands, which aims to visibly and charismatically communicate the Holy Spirit, with effects similar to those produced by the Apostles at Pentecost. —I apologize for reading so badly, but the sun in your eyes is not an easy thing to read—.

The Acts of the Apostles relate a significant episode in this regard. After learning that some in Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John there from Jerusalem. “These came down – says the text – and prayed for them so that they would receive the Holy Spirit; for it had not yet descended upon any of them; They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit” (8:14-17).

Added to this is what Saint Paul writes in the Second Letter to the Corinthians: “It is God himself who comforts us with you in Christ and who anointed us, and who marked us with his seal and gave us You destroy the Spirit in our hearts” (1.21-22). The earnest of the Spirit. The theme of the Holy Spirit as the “royal seal” with which Christ marks his sheep is the basis of the doctrine of “indelible character” that this rite confers.

As time went by, the rite of anointing took shape as a sacrament in its own right, assuming different forms and contents in the various periods and rites of the Church. This is not the place to retrace this complex story. What the sacrament of Confirmation is in the understanding of the Church, it seems to me, is described, simply and clearly, by the Catechism for Adults of the Italian Episcopal Conference. It goes like this: “Confirmation is for each faithful what Pentecost was for the entire Church. (…) It reinforces the baptismal incorporation into Christ and the Church and the consecration to the prophetic, royal and priestly mission. Communicate the abundance of the gifts of the Spirit (…).

If, therefore, baptism is the sacrament of birth, confirmation is the sacrament of growth. For this reason it is also the sacrament of testimony, because it is closely linked to the maturity of Christian existence.” So much for the catechism.

The problem is how to ensure that the sacrament of confirmation is not reduced, in practice, to an “extreme unction”, that is, to the sacrament of “exit” from the Church. It is said to be the sacrament of “goodbye,” because once they receive it, the young people leave, and will return later for marriage. That’s what people say.

We must make it the sacrament of the beginning of an active participation in his life. It is a goal that may seem impossible to us, given the current situation in almost the entire Church, but that does not mean that we should stop pursuing it. It will not be like this for all those confirmed, be they children or adults, but it is important that it be like this at least for some who will later be the community’s animators.

It may be useful, for this purpose, to allow oneself to be helped, in preparation for the Sacrament, by lay faithful who have had a personal encounter with Christ and have had a true experience of the Spirit. Some people say they experienced it as a flowering in them of the Sacrament of Confirmation received since they were children.

But this not only affects future confirmands; It affects us all and at all times. Along with confirmation and anointing, we have also received, the Apostle assures us, the “garment of the Spirit” which elsewhere he calls “the firstfruits of the Spirit” (Rom 8:23). We must “spend” this guarantee, enjoy these first fruits, not bury the charismas and talents received underground.

Saint Paul exhorted his disciple Timothy to “rekindle the gift of God, received by the laying on of hands” (2 Tim 1:6), and the verb used suggests the image of one who blows on the fire to rekindle its flame. Here is a beautiful goal for the jubilee year! Remove the ashes of habit and disengagement, to become, like the torchbearers in the Olympics, bearers of the flame of the Spirit. May the Spirit help us take some steps in this direction!