(CNA/EWTN News).- At the opening of the Year for Consecrated Life, Pope Francis issued a challenge to consecrated men and women, inviting them to lives of courage, communion, and joy.
Nearly 50 years after Vatican II’s decree on the Adaption and Renewal of Religious Life, Perfectae Caritatis, Pope Francis convoked the Year with the aim of expressing the “beauty and preciousness of this unique form” of Christian discipleship.
The Year for Consecrated Life begins Nov. 30, the first Sunday of Advent, and concludes Feb. 2, 2016.
Because the start of the 2015 Year for Consecrated Life coincided with Pope Francis’ trip to Turkey, his message was read out in his absence on Nov. 30 by Cardinal João Braz de Aviz at the beginning of Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica.
Through various initiatives in the coming months, Pope Francis told consecrated men and women in his message that their “shining witness of life will be as a lamp,” placed where it can “give light and warmth to all of God’s people.”
Pope Francis renewed his call made in a message…
