Catholic Civilisation
“I am concerned about the decline of religious life in the West. But I am also concerned about another thing: the rise of some new Religious Institutes that raise some concerns. I am not saying that there should not be any new Religious Institutes! Absolutely not! But sometimes I am wondering what is happening today. Some of them seem a great novelty, they seem to show great apostolic strength, they attract many, but then… they fail. Sometimes we even discover that they covered up scandals…”. This is a passage from Pope Francis’ dialogue with the Superiors General from the USG, published in the latest number of “La Civiltà Cattolica” (“Catholic Civilisation”), anticipated today in the Italian daily “Corriere della Sera”. “There are small new foundations that are really good and work seriously. I see that behind these good foundations there are sometimes groups of bishops who accompany and ensure their growth. But – the Pope observed – there are others that do not arise from a charism of the Holy Spirit, but from a human charism, a charismatic person who attracts by means of their human charms. Some are, I might say, ‘restorationist’: they seem to offer security but instead give only rigidity. When they tell me that there is a Congregation that draws many vocations, I must confess that I worry. The Spirit does not follow the logic of human success: it works in another way”. “Triumphalism – he concluded – does not go well with consecrated life”.
