CNA Newsroom, Oct 17, 2022 / 06:21 am
Pope Francis told Cistercians on Monday to embrace “the greater poverty of spirit and goods in order to be more available to the Lord.”
“Today the experience of encountering diversity is a sign of the times,” the pope said on Oct. 17.
The pontiff told the monks and nuns gathered at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace: “Yours is a valuable contribution, particularly rich, because, by reason of your contemplative vocation, you are not content with bringing diversity together on a superficial level, you also live it on the level of interiority, of prayer, of spiritual dialogue.”
Noting the order’s full name is Cistercians of the Common Observance — to distinguish them from those of the “strict observance” known as Trappists — the pontiff said the adjective “common” made one think.