Vatican City, Feb 17, 2011 / 12:22 pm
Religious orders face continued pressures to “secularize” and this threatens their identities and their mission in the world, according to the retiring leader of the Vatican’s office on religious life.
In a Feb. 16 interview with Vatican Radio, Cardinal Franc Rode warned that secularization that “has penetrated many communities and consciences.”
“Secularization,” he said, “is expressed in prayer (that is) often formal and without meditation and it damages the concept of obedience, introducing a certain “democratic” mentality that excludes the role of legitimate authority.”
Cardinal Rode, a Slovenian, is stepping down as prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for religious, a position he has held since 2004. He will be replaced by a Brazilian, Archbishop Joao Braz de Aviz, who was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI on Jan. 4.