Pope Leo XIV with the agostiny nuns received in the hearing (ANSA)
“We know that a culture without truth becomes an instrument of the powerful: instead of freeing consciences, confuses and distracts them according to the interests of the market, fashion or worldly success”.
It is the reflection of Pope Leone XIV that on Saturday morning, in the room of the Constoro in the Vatican, he received about forty at the hearing Augustinian nuns serve Jesus and Mary At the end of the Provincial Chapter of the Italian Province which also includes Community of the Democratic Republic of Congo, India and the new missions in Tanzania and Indonesia.
A week of “Prayer, discernment and common design”underlined the Pope, in which “renewing the adhesion to the charisma of your founder, the venerable Sister Maria Teresa Spinelli”.
The Pope reminded the religious that “while his canonization process continues, your path of holiness is also proceeding! As Augustinian nuns need Jesus and Mary, I encourage you to always let yourself be guided by the name you bring. The service you live every day, in fact, is first realized in the consecration of life to the Lord and fortifies itself in the sincere devotion to his and our mother ». Leone recalled that the service is fundamental but also patience in the tests, in which the Lord, said the Pope, confirms his loyalty; courage in the mission, “because the educational work you dedicate yourself forms wise and hearts capable of listening and passion for humanity”; perseverance in the sequence of Christ, “criterion of all our cultural initiative”.
The pontiff’s invitation was to resume the De Magistro of Sant’Agostino, a work in which the bishop of Hippona states that “Outdoor teaching must always lead to the encounter with the inner master, who is Jesus”.
The Augustinian nuns serve Jesus and Mary carry out their apostolate especially among young people, through teaching, catechism and youth pastoral. In the mission lands they dedicate themselves to the help of poor and abandoned children, to the promotion of women and health care. Over Italy, they are present at Malta, England, the United States, Australia, Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Philippines.
In addition to the hearing with the Augustinian, the Pope has made some important appointments among which the new one stands out President of the Pontifical Commission for the protection of minors, which is Monsignor Thibault Vernry, Archbishop of Chambéry and bishop of Saint-Jean-de Maurienne and Tarentaise, so far a member of the pontifical commission itself.
For the new president, the task entrusted to its institution is “serious and sacred”: “Help the Church to become more and more vigilant, responsible and compassionate in its mission to protect the most vulnerable among us”.
Vernry thanked the predecessor, Cardinal Seán or Malley, «Whose courageous and prophetic leadership has left an indelible mark not only in the Church, but in the whole society. Our priorities will focus on support for churches, in particular those that still struggle to implement adequate protection measures. We will promote subsidiarity and fair sharing of resources so that all parts of the Church, regardless of their geographical location or circumstances, can guarantee the highest protection standards. We recognize that it is a path of conversion that we all continue to travel. As Pope Francis has always reminded us, only at this condition can the Gospel be truly listened to and credible ».
