Pope meets with Hospital Sisters of Mercy
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis
on Saturday held an audience with the “Hospital Sisters of Mercy,” and
encouraged them in their mission despite challenges posed by secular culture.
Delivering his address in the
Vatican’s Clementine Hall, Pope Francis expressed his gratitude to the sisters,
and said they are “a concrete sign of how to express the Father’s mercy”.
He recalled how Servant of
God Teresa Orsini Doria Pamphili Landi, a noble lay woman who was supported by
two priests, established the congregation in accord with Jesus’ call to care
for the sick.
In the face of the weakness
brought about by illness, “distinctions of social status, race, language, and
culture cannot exist,” the Pope said. “All of us become weak, and we must
entrust ourselves to others.”
Pope Francis stressed the
Church’s commitment and responsibility towards those who suffer, and reflected
on the particular charism of the sisters, which is to care for those in
hospitals.
He urged the sisters to
persevere in their work, despite the difficulties they may face.
“At times, in our days, a
secularist culture aims to remove even from hospitals every religious
reference,” including the sisters themselves, he said.
Despite this, the Holy Father
encouraged the sisters to never tire of “being friends, sisters, and mothers to
the sick,” and reminded them that “prayer is the life-blood which sustains
[their] evangelizing mission.”
Finally, the Holy Father
reminded the sisters of how Jesus is always present in the person who lies
suffering in the hospital bed.
“The closeness to Jesus, and
to the weakest, is your strength.”
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