Pope Francis asked Vatican officials on Saturday to look out for “self-referential” founders of Catholic communities who put themselves “above the Church.”
The Pope told members of the Vatican department that oversees consecrated life on 11 December. The Pope urged them to focus on “discerning and accompanying,” while carefully scrutinizing leaders. The Holy Father was speaking to members of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life gathered at the Vatican for a plenary meeting.
He said: “In discerning and accompanying, there are some considerations that should always be kept in mind. Attention to the founders, who at times tend to be self-referential, to feel that they are the sole custodians or interpreters of the charism as if they were above the Church.”
The congregation is composed of five offices, responsible for promotion and formation, monastic life, governance, disciplinary matters, and the creation, merging, and suppression of communities.
The Pope said officials to pay particular attention to the pastoral care of vocations and the formation process.
He also called for “attention to how the service of authority is exercised, with particular regard to the separation of the internal and external forums — a theme that worries me so much — the duration of mandates, and the accumulation of powers. And attention to abuses of authority and power.”