Scottish Catholic Observer

By Stephen Reilly

Pope Francis has told religious orders they must go forth and ‘wake up the world.’

He was speaking at a meeting with the Union of Superiors General at the Vatican in November, but his words were only made public this week.

During the three-hour assembly, which took place in the Vatican’s Synod Hall on November 29, the Pope took questions from the gathering of 120 leaders of men’s religious orders.

He called on consecrated women and men to ‘wake up the world’ and went into detail on subjects pertinent to religious orders, including their relationships with bishops, formation and corruption.

“Religious life ought to promote growth in the Church by way of attraction,” he said. “The Church must be attractive. Wake up the world! Be witnesses of a different way of doing things, of acting, of living! It is possible to live differently in this world.”

Pope Francis went on to discuss formation and how best to engage with young people.

“Those who work with youth cannot be content with simply saying things that are too tidy and structured, as in a tract; these things go in one ear and out the other of young people,” he said.

“We need a new language, a new way of saying things. Today God asks this of us: to leave the nest, which encloses us in order to be sent.

“It is important to recall that the language of young people in formation today is different from that in the past: we are living through an epochal change,” the Holy Father continued.

“Formation is a work of art, not a police action. We must form their hearts. Otherwise we are creating little monsters. And then these little monsters mould the People of God. This really gives me goose bumps.”

Noting the growth of religious orders in Africa and Asia, the Pope acknowledged challenges to evangelisation there, including correct adaptation of Catholic teaching to local cultures, as well as a temptation to exploit poorer societies as sources of vocations.

“The situation in which we live now provides us with new challenges which sometimes are difficult for us to understand,” he said, noting that Catholic teachers must be prepared to ‘welcome children in an educational context, little boys and girls, young adults who live in complex situations, especially family ones.’

The Pope offered an example of such a situation from his experience in Buenos Aires: “I remember the case of a very sad little girl who finally confided to her teacher the reason for her state of mind: ‘My mother’s girlfriend doesn’t like me.’”

The Holy Father also shared his thoughts on how the relationships between religious orders and bishops should be ‘rescued.’

“We bishops need to understand that consecrated persons are not functionaries but gifts that enrich dioceses,” he said. “The involvement of religious communities in dioceses is important.”

The Holy Father revealed that he ordered a revision of what he described as outdated Vatican directives on the relations between religious orders and local bishops.

At the end of the assembly Pope Francis announced that 2015 will be a year dedicated to consecrated life, an announcement that was met with applause.

The Union of Superiors General’s president is currently Spaniard Fr Adolfo Nicolas, the leader of the Jesuit order to which the Pope also belongs.

—This story ran in full in the January 10 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes