Pope Francis asked to support homes in difficulty and warned that ” today the family is always in danger”, during an audience in the Vatican with some members of the Congregation of the Marian Clerics of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary who is participating in its General Chapter on 17 February.
In his address to the clergy, the Holy Father highlighted “three great lines of spirituality” of the Congregation: “Love for the Virgin Mary, the prayer for suffrage and care for the poor.”
Taking Saint Stanislaus, the founder of the Order, as an example, the Pontiff explained that ” true devotion to the Mother of the Lord is nourished and grows by listening to and meditating on the Word of God .”
He also recalled that the Marian clerics contributed in their beginnings “to responding to some serious problems of the time: the weakening of the faith, especially among the lower classes, the scarcity of priestly and religious vocations, the state of misery for a large part of the population”.
“Saint Stanislaus outlined lines of spirituality and action for your congregation that are well embodied in the concrete history of the men and women of his time,” the Pope said.
In this line, he invited those present to collect the testimony of its founder, “responding creatively to the challenges that our times also present”.
” Do not be discouraged if you encounter opposition or difficulties,” Pope Francis encouraged them.
In addition, he remembered Blessed Jorge Matulaitis (1871-1927), a Marian cleric, priest, bishop and Apostolic Nuncio in Lithuania.
This blessing highlighted the Successor of Peter, “knew how to revitalize the community by updating its Constitutions and promoting his work without fear, to the point of having to act clandestinely and risking arrest, without ever giving up promoting charity and unity between the religious and the faithful”.
Finally, he encouraged the clergy to “keep faithful to your origins alive in this prophetic care until today .”
Among his pastoral priorities, he cited support for families in difficulty and assured that “this is very important: today the family is always in danger.”
He also recalled the three Marian titles that Saint John Paul II proposed to venerate the Immaculate Conception.
“Mary ‘Seat of Wisdom’, so that your testimony of the Gospel may be firm and solid; Mary ‘Consoler of the afflicted’, so that the men of our time may find in you love and understanding and feel drawn to God for your charity and selfless service; and, thirdly, Mary ‘Mother of Mercy’, so that you may be rich in maternal compassion towards the souls redeemed by the blood of Christ and who have been entrusted to you”, concluded the Holy Father.