By Vatican News
“Continuing the renewal of the Church launched by the Second Vatican Council”—a renewal that calls for “overcoming self-referentiality, being poorer and in deeper communion with the poor, and intensifying bonds of communion.”
That was the exhortation Pope Leo XIV delivered this morning to participants in the General Chapter of the Vallumbrosan Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict, whom he received in audience at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.
The Vallumbrosan Congregation, founded by Saint John Gualbert in 1039 and headquartered in Vallombrosa, Tuscany, follows the Rule of Saint Benedict and is renowned for its commitment to evangelical poverty and charitable activity.
The challenges of our time
At the beginning of the audience, the Pope thanked the participants “for the gift that your monastic life represents, reminding the whole Church of the primacy of God as the source of joy and the root of personal and social transformation.” He then recalled the origins of the congregation, when Saint John Gualbert “answered the call to a more authentic way of life.” Today, the Pope noted, “we once again find ourselves at the dawn of a new millennium, in which, amid many fears, the world seems to be undergoing a profound reshaping.”
“It is not a matter of abandoning the challenges of our time” the Pope said, but of “inhabiting them with the depth of those who know how to be silent and listen to the Word of God, so that it might be brought to light within a changing culture.”
“The fragility of those early beginnings can both inspire and console us in our current fragilities,” the Pontiff continued. “We are often less strong than in the past, less youthful and numerous, at times wounded by human limitations and errors, but the Gospel, received sine glossa—without gloss or compromise—will never cease to spread the fragrance of its beauty.” “Let nothing,” the Pope urged the monks, “hold you back from the original call to reform, to renew, and to simplify, for the good of all, that Christian life which still has the power to widen the horizons and breath of human existence.”
An invitation from Popes Paul VI and Francis
Already in 1973, Saint Paul VI had spoken of “the continuing relevance of those early days,” noting that “the renewal of religious orders, and more generally the aggiornamento of the Church—among both clergy and laity—are among the most vital and compelling themes of the Council and its aftermath.” And Pope Francis, added Leo XIV, tirelessly encouraged all of us to continue the renewal of the Church inspired by the Second Vatican Council. It is a call the Pontiff is once again amplifying, while urging that “communion with the other Congregations of the sons and daughters of Saint Benedict may help you remain faithful to the Rule, in dialogue with today’s world.”
