A message from the bishop of Rome

The simple words and surprising gestures of Pope Francis are a strong call for all the members of the Church to be more faithful to the Gospel. Let us listen to them once again together!

To usher in this new year, what better than to submit to your attention the outline of the Letter of the pope to the consecrated men and women, of 21 November 2014 ?

Together let us thank the Father, who called us to follow Jesus by fully embracing the Gospel and serving the Church, and poured into our hearts the Holy Spirit, the source of our joy and our witness to God’s love and mercy before the world.

The aims of the year of consecrated life:
1. The first of these aims is to look to the past with gratitude.
2. This Year also calls us to live the present with passion.
3. To embrace the future with hope should be the third aim of this Year.

What in particular do I expect from this Year of grace for consecrated life?
1. That the old saying will always be true: “Where there are religious, there is joy”.
2. I am counting on you “to wake up the world”, since the distinctive sign of consecrated life is prophecy.
3. So I am hoping that the “spirituality of communion” will become a reality.
4. I also expect from you what I have asked all the members of the Church: to come out of yourselves and go forth to the existential peripheries.
5. I expect that each form of consecrated life will question what it is that God and people today are asking of them.

In this letter, I wish to speak not only to consecrated persons, but also:
1. To the laity, who share with them the same ideals, spirit and mission.
2. The whole Christian people to be increasingly aware of the gift which is the presence of our many consecrated men and women, heirs of the great saints who have written the history of Christianity.
3. To the consecrated men and women and to the members of fraternities and communities who belong to Churches of traditions other than the Catholic tradition.
4. Other expressions of religious fraternity [...]. There are instances, some long-standing, of inter-monastic dialogue involving the Catholic Church and certain of the great religious traditions.
5. Finally, in a special way, I address my brother bishops. [...] I ask you, the Pastors of the particular Churches, to show special concern for promoting within your communities the different charisms, whether long-standing or recent. I ask you to do this by your support and encouragement, your assistance in discernment, and your tender and loving closeness to those situations of suffering and weakness in which some consecrated men or women may find themselves. Above all, do this by instructing the People of God in the value of consecrated life, so that its beauty and holiness may shine forth in the Church.