Referencing his apostolic exhortation on the call to holiness from 2018, Gaudete et Exsultate, the Holy Father paid tribute to “ordinary” women who have faithfully lived their vocations and changed the world in quiet yet powerful ways.
“I think of all those unknown or forgotten women who, each in her own way, sustained and transformed families and communities by the power of their witness,” he said. “The Church needs to keep this in mind, because the Church is herself a woman: a daughter, a bride, and a mother. And who better than women can reveal her face?”
Francis spoke to the theme of the conference, which referred to women as “builders of humanity,” highlighting the nature of women as builders in cooperation with the Creator “in the service of life, the common good, and peace.” In his remarks, he focused on two aspects of this mission — the first about “style,” the way in which women bear love and compassion in the world.
“Ours is a time seared by hatred in which our human family, which needs to feel the power of love, is instead frequently scarred by violence, war, and ideologies that stifle the noblest feelings of the human heart,” Francis said. “Precisely in this context, the contribution of women is more necessary than ever. For women know how to bring people together with tenderness.”
He recalled St. Therese of Lisieux saying that she wanted to be “love in the Church.”
“She was right,” he said, “women, in fact, with their unique capacity for compassion, their intuitiveness, and their connatural inclination to ‘care’ are able, in an outstanding way, to be for society both “intelligence and a heart that loves and unites,” to bring love where love is lacking and humanity where human beings are searching to find their true identity.”
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