Pope Leo XIV told Dominican contemplative nuns at the Vatican on the morning of September 30 that their vocation is not on the margins of the Church’s mission. “It is its beating heart,” he said. He was speaking to members of the International Commission of Dominican Contemplative Nuns.
He opened by saying he was glad to receive them so soon after the recognition of the heroic virtues of Sister Maria Petra Giordano, a professed nun of the Order of Preachers. She made faith and vocation the fixed points of her consecrated life, he said.
Roots in Dominican tradition
Leo drew on two older voices. Jordan of Saxony had described the nuns of the first female communities as given mainly to contemplative prayer and study, supporting the friars’ preaching through penance and sharing the same charism. Saint Thomas Aquinas, in turn, took up Saint Dominic’s insight that any true word of proclamation must start in silence, listening, prayer and a deep relationship with God.
From that he urged the nuns to treat their gatherings first of all as moments of encounter with the Lord, through prayer, mutual listening, fraternal correction and reconciliation.
The case for silence
Silence, he said, is a fundamental value of cloistered life. “To be silent is an act of the will, which involves the whole person,” he said, and it helps build solid relationships because they are animated by the Word of God. It creates “spaces of freedom and truth” where attention is protected, where one grows sensitive to the voice of those who “do not count,” and where wisdom and generosity can grow.
He said this matters most in a world marked by speed, “in which everything has to be immediately visible and every emptiness is quickly filled.”
Leo closed by asking the nuns to listen to what the Spirit is asking of Dominican contemplative life today. Before there are tasks to carry out, he said, there is a call to answer, a fire that must not be allowed to die, as Saint Catherine of Siena put it. “Your service to the Church is precious,” he told them, urging them to continue it with confidence, in communion and with discernment.
Sources
- Dominican Contemplative Nuns: Pope Urges Silence for Truth
- Pope to contemplative nuns: The importance of silence in a world marked by speed – Vatican News
