In a meeting with members of the World Conference of Secular Institutes, Pope Francis spoke about the difference between being secular and being lay. He touched on the importance and beauty of the vocation of secular institutes.
POPE FRANCIS
Yours is a border vocation...
Yet yours is a vocation that opens roads, of borders, not to stand still. It opens paths. I am thinking of ecclesial contexts blocked by clericalism—which is a perversion, clericalism—where your vocation says the beauty of a blessed secularity by opening the Church to closeness to every man and woman.
The Pope reminded those present that their mission is to be with people in the highs and lows of life. He gave the group words of encouragement to continue on in their mission of relationship with others.
POPE FRANCIS
Dear friends, do not tire of showing the face of a Church that needs to rediscover itself on a journey with everyone, to welcome the world with all its struggles and beauties. The Church is not a laboratory to quiet down and rest.
Pope Francis explained that there is no solitary destiny because everyone's future is linked to one another. The Pope closed by encouraging a good relationship between secular institutes and their pastors in the Church's mission.
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