Contrary to what Pope Francis may believe, nuns were not made to be bureaucrats or civil servants. A proper appreciation of nuns consists in helping them live their own vocation: humble, silent, indispensable work among the poor, the sick, the elderly.
(LifeSiteNews) -- Pope Francis has discovered that machismo and misogyny reign in his Roman Curia, and therefore that the nuns who work there - many at all levels - are not properly appreciated. He believes that in order to elevate them, they must be turned into civil servants. In this bureaucratization of the nuns he has set an example by appointing one as prefect of a dicastery and another as secretary of the Vatican government. A late and curious feminism!
This judgment extends to the position of nuns throughout the whole Church. For centuries, especially in the 20th century, the situation of consecrated women has followed the crises in the Church. One notable example: nuns have traditionally been educators, creating their own schools.
In the 1960s, it was said that “the time of the laity” had come, and the nuns had to hand over their educational institutions to them. As it turned out, these institutions were lost. A proper appreciation of nuns consists in helping them live their own vocation: humble, silent, but indispensable work among the poor, the sick, the elderly. They were not made for bureaucracy. The crisis of religious orders has followed the crisis in the Church.
The experience of my relationship with consecrated women has made me appreciate the work they do in the Church. We must distinguish between two dimensions: purely active or contemplative, and those who seek both contemplation and action. Benedictine monasteries especially cultivate liturgy and Gregorian chant; they used to be well-populated abbeys. Carmelite monasteries, on the other hand, are small in number – no more than 20 – but they are multiplying, regularly requested by bishops. And they take up the tradition forged by the great St. Teresa of Ávila.
The rule of St. Teresa perfectly portrays the role these Carmelites play: “In the heart of the Church, my Mother, I will be Love.” My memory goes to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Scholastica in San Isidro, where as a young priest I was asked to teach theology, and likewise to the Platense Carmel “Queen of Martyrs and St. Joseph,” which I was very close to.
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One example of the commitment for which women's institutes were created is the achievement of the Sisters of St. Camillus de Lellis, shown in their magnificent hospital in Buenos Aires, the St. Camillus Clinic, with thousands of associates. The Mater Dei Institute, in which active work is supported by the contemplative dimension, was founded in the province of San Luis - and has now spread throughout the world. Thanks be to God, tradition is accepted by many dioceses. We could cite other examples of nuns' institutes that are growing in vocations precisely because they have neither relaxed nor surrendered to the spirit of the world.
The “harsh winter” that followed the Second Vatican Council (the expression is Paul VI's) caused the hardship and closure of numerous congregations of nuns. When the Church knows a true springtime - not the imaginary ones that arise from ideologies or “new paradigms” - convents flourish.
In the Vatican there are numerous nuns working in their offices, many in humble service to cardinals and prelates. They do not aspire to the dubious promotion now sought by the Pontiff. The Pope should instead be concerned about persistent reports that the Vatican is full of homosexuals.
Héctor Aguer
Archbishop Emeritus of La Plata
Buenos Aires, Tuesday, February 4, 2025
