By Linda Bordoni
Pope Leo XIV has encouraged men and women religious to remain rooted in their charism while remaining attentive to the signs of the times, reminding them that their founders were able to respond with courage and discernment to the needs of their day.
Addressing representatives of Marist missionaries, of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, and of the Ursulines of Mary Immaculate gathered in Rome for their chapters and assemblies, the Pope recalled how their founders and foundresses “successfully interpreted the signs of the times and responded wisely to new needs.”
Community life, obedience, openness to the signs of the times
In his discourse, the Pope dwelled on the importance of community life in religious vocation, on obedience as an act of love, and on how vital it is for the religious to be open to the signs of the times.
He recalled that their history is “a splendid and varied testimony, reflecting the multiplicity of gifts bestowed by God on founders and foundresses who, in openness to the working of the Holy Spirit, successfully interpreted the signs of the times and responded wisely to new needs.”
He pointed to the example of Brigida di Gesù Morello, who, in the seventeenth century, “began an initiative for the promotion of the dignity of women that would bear much fruit in the future,” and of Saint Gaspare del Bufalo, who opposed “the rampant spirit of ‘impiety and irreligion’ that afflicted his time.” Similarly, he recalled Father Jean-Claude Colin, “inspired in his apostolate by the spirit of humility and discretion of Mary of Nazareth,” and the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, founded “in the 1990s, following in the footsteps of Saint Francis and Saint Maximilian Kolbe.”
Respond wisely to new needs
The Pope stressed that this same openness is vital today: “Without this open and perceptive gaze towards the real demands of our brothers and sisters, none of your Congregations would have been founded.”
“Your founders,” he added, “were capable of observing, evaluating, loving and then setting out, even at the risk of great suffering and failure, to serve the real needs of their brothers and sisters, recognising the voice of God in the poverty of their neighbours.”
Follow the footsteps of past generations to grasp high ideals
He emphasized that moving forward means carrying a “living memory of those courageous beginnings, not in the sense of doing ‘an exercise in archaeology or the cultivation of mere nostalgia, following in the footsteps of past generations in order to grasp the high ideals, and the vision and values which inspired them, beginning with the founders and foundresses and the first communities,’ identifying their potential, perhaps still unexplored, in order to put them to good use in the service of the ‘here and now.’”
Finally, Pope Leo expressed gratitude for the daily witness of religious life, saying: “I know how much good you do every day in so many parts of the world, good that is often unseen by human eyes, but not by God’s! I thank you and bless you from my heart, encouraging you to continue your mission with faith and generosity.” – Vatican News
