The Different Dimensions of the Church’s Beauty

Pope Leo XIV met with several religious Congregations during the month of June, the second of his pontificate. On Monday, 6 June, he received in audience members of the Society of African Missions, the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis and the Formators of the Servants of the Paraclete.

Addressing the Society of the African Missions, the Holy Father stressed the importance of being “always ready to embrace the ‘folly of the Cross’ (cf. 1 Cor 1:17-25) with sincerity and peace”. The Pope encouraged members of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis to address the themes of their general chapter — community life, formation and vocations — in the light of their “penitential” charism, because as Saint Francis of Assisi said, “only through a constant journey of conversion can we offer our brothers and sisters ‘the fragrant words of our Lord Jesus Christ’”. Speaking to the Servants of the Paraclete, Pope Leo said their presence reminds us that “although all of us are called to be ministers of Christ, the physician of souls, for our brothers and sisters (cf. Lk 5:31-32), we are ourselves frail and in need of healing”. All three Congregations, the Holy Father said at the end of his audience, “manifest three luminous dimensions of the Church’s beauty: commitment to conversion, enthusiasm for mission and the warmth of mercy”.

On Friday, 20 June, the Holy Father received in audience members of the Friars Minor Conventual and of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of Captives, (Trinitarians). He began by recalling a painting in the apse of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, depicting “Pope Innocent III receiving Saint Francis and Juan de Mata together, to honour their great contribution to the reform of religious life”. These two Saints, he said, were not only inspired to follow a spiritual path of service, but also by a desire “to speak with the Successor of Peter about the gift received by the Spirit”.

On Saturday, 28 June, Pope Leo received participants in the General Chapter of the Vallumbrosan Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict. After thanking them for the gift of their monastic life, he noted that we are “at the dawn of a new millennium, in which, amid many fears, the world seems to be undergoing a profound reshaping”. Indeed, it “is not a question of abandoning the challenges of our time, but of dwelling within them with the depth of those who are silent and listen to the Word of God, so as to bring it to light in a changing culture”.

On Monday, 30 June, Pope Leo received in audience members of several women’s religious institutes, some of whom were participating in their General Chapters: Sisters of the Order of Saint Basil the Great; Daughters of Divine Charity; Augustinian Sisters of Amparo; Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Hearts. The Holy Father thanked them for their fidelity and for their work caring “for the weakest: children, poor girls and boys, orphans, migrants, and more recently for the elderly and the sick as well as many other ministries of charity”.