Pope Encourages Bishops to Foster Vocations to Religious Life

Over the past several months, the Bishops of the United States have been making their ad limina visit to the Holy Father.  The law of the Church requires Bishops to visit with the Holy Father every 5 years.  The term “ad limina” literally means ‘to the threshold’.  Each diocesan bishop is required to “go to Rome to venerate the tombs of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and to present himself to the Roman Pontiff.”  (CIC Can. 400 §1)  Each diocesan Bishop comes to the threshold of the See of St. Peter.  The last group of American Bishops recently made their visit to Rome.  In his final words to the American hierarchy, he reminded them of the importance of the vocation to consecrated life and of their duty to foster it.  The Holy Father said:

I urge you to remain particularly close to the men and women in your local Churches who are committed to following Christ ever more perfectly by generously embracing the evangelical counsels. . . . The urgent need in our own time for credible and attractive witnesses to the redemptive and transformative power of the Gospel makes it essential to recapture a sense of the sublime dignity and beauty of the consecrated life, to pray for religious vocations and to promote them actively, while strengthening existing channels for communication and cooperation, especially through the work of the Vicar or Delegate for Religious in each Diocese.

To read the Holy Father’s entire address, click here.