Religious orders of men and women must continue perfecting their efforts to ensure the safety and integrity of every child, every person they meet and every member of their order, Pope Leo XIV said this week. Source: CNS.
The Pope prayed that the Church’s religious communities would “increasingly become examples of trust and dialogue, where every person is respected, listened to and valued.”
“Where justice is lived with mercy, wounds are transformed into openings for grace,” the Pope said in a message on Monday to participants in an international workshop organised by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
The three-day workshop, “Building Communities that Safeguard Dignity,” gathered representatives of national and regional conferences of religious superiors and of religious orders at the pontifical commission’s office in Rome to learn, share best practices and meet with Vatican officials.
The commission said the workshop was designed to address the protection of minors, but also to “consider how safeguarding structures and practices can help address situations of vulnerability in adult life within the Church, recognising that adults in consecrated life can experience dynamics of dependence, isolation or imbalance of authority that require attention, accompaniment and preventive systems”.
In his message, Pope Leo – the former superior general of the Augustinians – told the religious that building communities “where the dignity of every person, especially minors and the most vulnerable, is protected and promoted” is an issue “very close to my heart”.
“Dignity is a gift from God, who created the human being in his own image and semblance,” the Pope’s message said. “It is not something that is obtained by merit or effort, nor does it depend on what we possess or achieve.”
Dignity is “born of the look of love with which God wanted us, one by one, and continues to want us”, he wrote. “On every human face, even when it is marked by fatigue or pain, there is the reflection of the Creator’s goodness, a light that no darkness can erase.”
Believing that, he said, must lead to care and respect for every person.
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Pope encourages religious orders to perfect safeguarding systems (By Cindy Wooden, CNS)
