Pope Francis addressed the International Forum of Catholic Action, a federation of national Catholic Action groups that was founded in 1991 and received Vatican recognition in 2007. The Catholic Action lay apostolate dates from the 19th century.

In his message for the Forum’s 30th anniversary, Pope Francis called on its members to “feel deeply the urgency of working for fraternity and social friendship as means of rebuilding a wounded world” and to “sow in the hearts of all that an authentic Christian spirituality is one that lives in the desire for holiness, which is a path that starts in the Beatitudes and that is realized from Matthew 25.” He concluded, “May the spirit that animates all your projects and work be that of being a Church on the move, which lives the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing.”