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A special “no agenda” meeting called by Pope Benedict at the Vatican on June 13 discussed several concerns about Religious Life.
Respected Vatican journalist, Andrea Tornielli reports that while there was no public agenda, the meeting involved the leaders of the Roman Curia and covered
- the importance of maintaining separation between men’s and women’s religious communities
- the need to distinguish Religious Life from secular life
- the limits of lay leadership (especially over priests)
- the pitfalls of excessive devotion to the founder of a religious congregation or to an apostolic movement.
In discussing the excesses that should be avoided in religious communities, the dicastery leaders reportedly emphasised that the commitment to a religious congregation or movement should never work against the unity of the universal Church, the authority of the teaching magisterium, or the conscience of the individual member.
The conversation on excesses Religious Life should avoid appears to reflect the painful lessons learned from the crisis within the Legion of Christ. In addition to encouraging adulation of their founder, the late Father Marcial Maciel, the Legionaries also followed a rigid system of discipline that included a rigorous ban on any criticism of a superior.
The last meeting of this type was held on 12 November 2010 prior to the newborn Pontifical Council for the promotion of the new evangelisation.
Sources
- Summit at the Curia on Religious (translated from Italian by Google)
- Vertice in Curia sui religiosi
- Special Vatican meeting discussed problems of religious life – Catholic Culture
- Image: Reuters
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News category: World.
