Pope to Secular Institutes: You are revolutionary!

May 10,2014: Pope Francis has told the men and women of Italy’s Secular Institutes that their establishment was a revolutionary and courageous act that revealed how his predecessor Pius XII knew how to read the signs of the times. Handing his prepared text to the 200 consecrated lay men and women present, the Pope preferred to speak to them from the heart. He began by describing Pius XII’ apostolic constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia as an act of courage that the Church of the time needed. It institutionalized the reality of communities of lay consecrated men and women, and since then – the Pope said – “you have done great good for the Church, with great courage because we need courage to live in this world”.

To them he reminded whether they live alone or in communities to contemplate the Lord and the world, the reality and beauty of the world. “This is why your vocation is fascinating he said. He instructed them not to think what they can do but to remember the grain of wheat, and so wherever they are do everything for the Kingdom to come. A simple life, a simple gesture but be yeast, be the grain, which makes the Kingdom grow. “Be revolutionary !” he said.