On Jan. 6, the nuns attended the Mass for the Epiphany in St. Peter’s Basilica. At the end of the liturgy, Pope Francis greeted them: “Welcome with all my heart. You are going to bring spirituality, thank you very much,” the Holy Father said to the nuns.
The purpose of Mater Ecclesiae
As reported by the Holy See, Pope Francis in a letter dated Oct. 1, 2023, ordered that the place “return to its original purpose,” which is for “contemplative orders to support the Holy Father in his daily concern for the entire Church, through the ministry of prayer, adoration, praise, and reparation, thus being a prayerful presence in silence and solitude.”
The Argentine Benedictine nuns “generously accepted the invitation.”
The place that was the last residence of Benedict XVI, located among the hills of these gardens, was erected as a women’s monastery of contemplative life with the title of Mater Ecclesiae by St. John Paul II in 1994.
Between 1994 and 2012, four communities — the Poor Clares, the Discalced Carmelites, the Benedictines, and the Visitation nuns — in turn lived there.
Credit: Source link
