Pierre Goursat

The major work of Pierre Goursat is inseparable from the founding and development of the Emmanuel Community, one of the major fruits of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in France. Before this foundation, Pierre Goursat was actively involved in the world of culture and media, which he considered essential vectors for evangelization. He collaborated with the Catholic Center of French Intellectuals (1946-1950), founded the French Cinema Circle in 1951, and served as General Secretary of the French Catholic Office of Cinema (OCFC) from 1960 to 1970. In October 1971, moved by deep compassion for marginalized youth and those facing the scourge of drugs, he acquired an old barge which he moored on the Seine at the Pont de Neuilly. This place of welcome and prevention, which would become the Mont-Thabor barge, would also be his place of residence from 1978 onwards and a space for continuous Eucharistic adoration. The decisive turning point took place in February 1972. During a retreat in Troussures (Oise) organized by Father Henri Caffarel, Pierre Goursat (then 57 years old) and Martine Laffitte (future Laffitte-Catta), a young medical intern, heard the testimony of Xavier and Brigitte Le Pichon on the Charismatic Renewal in the United States. On February 11, 1972, they received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They then began to pray together and founded a prayer group that grew rapidly, going from a few people to several hundred in one year. This dynamic gave birth to the Emmanuel Community in 1972. In 1975, the community established itself in Paray-le-Monial, the site of the apparitions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which marked the beginning of its international influence and the revitalization of this sanctuary. On June 18, 1977, about sixty members made their first commitment within the community. Pierre Goursat assumed the leadership of the community as its first moderator until 1985, when he retired from governance following a myocardial infarction. He spent the last years of his life in silence, intercessory prayer, and adoration on the Mont-Thabor barge.

After withdrawing from his responsibilities within the Emmanuel Community, Pierre Goursat experienced a period of total self-effacement and progressive physical decline. He passed away peacefully on the houseboat on the morning of March 25, 1991, the feast of the Annunciation (which fell on Holy Monday that year). His funeral was celebrated on March 27, 1991, at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Paris by Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, in the presence of numerous bishops, priests, and faithful. The following day, Holy Thursday, he was buried in the cemetery of Paray-le-Monial, a city to which he was deeply attached. Upon his death, his reputation for holiness spread rapidly among the members of the community and beyond. In September 2007, the councils of the Emmanuel Community and the Fraternity of Jesus officially requested the opening of his cause for canonization. After obtaining the nihil obstat from the Holy See, the cause was introduced at the diocesan level on January 7, 2010, by Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris. Father Francis Kohn was appointed postulator of the cause.

The diocesan inquiry into the life, virtues, and reputation for holiness of Pierre Goursat took place from 2010 to 2015. During this phase, more than 90 testimonies were collected and a file of nearly 12,000 pages was compiled. The solemn closing of the diocesan inquiry took place on December 19, 2015, at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Paris. The file was then transferred to Rome, marking the opening of the Roman phase on November 15, 2016, at the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Causes of Saints. The decree of validity for the diocesan inquiry was signed on June 2, 2017. The Positio, a theological and historical synthesis document of nearly 1,000 pages, was submitted in 2021. On December 18, 2024, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of the virtues of Pierre Goursat, officially declaring him Venerable. For his beatification to be pronounced, the official recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession is now required.

The spirituality of Pierre Goursat is deeply Eucharistic, Marian, and rooted in the grace of Pentecost. It rests on a fundamental spiritual tripod: 1. Adoration: Eucharistic contemplation is the source of all Christian life and the heart of the Emmanuel charism. 2. Compassion: From adoration is born a gaze of love and mercy towards all men, especially the poor, the sick, and the excluded. 3. Evangelization: Compassion compels one to proclaim Christ with boldness and joy in the heart of the ordinary world. Pierre Goursat was also a great artisan of the renewal of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which he described as a 'burning furnace of charity.' Today, the legacy of Pierre Goursat is alive through the Emmanuel Community, recognized by the Holy See in 1992 as a Public International Association of the Faithful. Present in nearly 60 countries, it brings together tens of thousands of members (laypeople, couples, priests, and consecrated persons) committed to the proclamation of the Gospel and the service of the Church. His work also unfolds through the international solidarity NGO Fidesco, founded in 1981 to send volunteers to countries in the Global South.