Pope tells nuns they are like Mary, opening heaven’s doors
August 16, 2013 - When Pope Francis visited a convent of Poor Clare nuns on Thursday,
he said that “a consecrated woman is a little like the Virgin Mary.” “Mary stands
behind the door of Paradise, and when sinners get there, Saint Peter does not always
open the door. Mary suffers, and remains there. But at night, when nobody can listen
or hear, Mary opens the doors of Paradise, and lets everybody in,” Sister Maria Concetta
told Vatican Radio, recounting the Pope’s words to them when he visited the Immaculate
Conception Convent in Castel Gandolfo town, just outside Rome. Pope Francis visited
the cloistered convent just before celebrating the August 15 Solemnity of the Assumption
of Mary with a public Mass in the square of the hilltop town, where the Pope’s summer
residence is situated. While previous Pontiffs have customarily spent August in
Castel Gandolfo, Pope Francis has remained in the Vatican. Another nun, Sr. Maria
Assunta, said “Pope Francis invited us to deeply live our vocation and to be faithful
to our charisms of simplicity and poverty that make us sisters.” The Poor Clares
were founded in 1212 as a Franciscan order for women, by St. Francis and St. Clare
of Assisi. (Source: CNA)