Pope Francis on Friday received some 850 Superiors General of women religious who had just concluded their Plenary Assembly that takes place every three years.
During the audience he conversed with them reflecting on a series of topics including the question of the abuse of religious women, women’s diaconate, the role of women in the Church and the possibility of an apostolic trip to South Sudan.
The Pope added that the abuse of nuns is a question of which to be aware of and faced: “It is a serious problem”, he said, and he went on to mention the abuse of power and the abuse of conscience to which religious can be particularly subjected.
Religious, he added, “must not become the servants of a cleric.”
“They must carry out their mission in the dimension of service, not in that of servitude” he said.
As far as women’s diaconate is concerned, the Pope recalled that a special commission had been established at the request of the religious to examine this issue in depth.
He explained that an agreement had not been reached within the commission and that a theological, historical foundation is needed. However the work, he promised, will continue.
It is wrong to think that the commitment of the sisters in the Church is only functional, the Pope said: “The Church is feminine”. He took pains to underscore that this is not a mere image, but reality.
Recalling the fact that in the Bible the Church is female, she is “Jesus’ bride”, the Pope said that in the field of Theology of Woman it is necessary to move forward.
He also agreed with one of the religious who suggested that during the UISG’s next Plenary Assembly a male presence could be useful to listen to the voices of so many religious across the globe who, together with their sisters, serve Jesus in an infinite range of capacities.
Full story at Vatican News.
‘in an infinite range of capacities’. Not to be too picky, but Pope Francis is obviously not a mathematician. There are a finite number of religious, each of whom has a finite number of capacities of service. Even allowing for the synergism of collaberative effort, there is still a finite number of capacities. Huge, widely varied, impressive, etc, but still finite. Only God is infinite.
I wonder how many of those women Superiors General, after hearing the Pope’s remarks on the femininity of the Church and service v. servitude seek validation and ratification of their vocation by a role historically and traditionally held by men.