Fight when treated unfairly, pope tells religious, consecrated women

Vatican City (CNS) – Pope Francis encourages religious sisters and accuses women to continue to show courage in the midst of difficulties, even if it means pushing back to the church they serve faithfully “I invite them to fight when, in some cases, they are treated unfairly, even in the church; when they serve so much so they decrease into slavery, sometimes, by people in the church,” said the Pope.

In a video message released by the Pope’s network around the world 1, the Pope offers his prayer intention for February, which is dedicated to religious women and sanctified. At the beginning of each month, the network posted a short video from the Pope which offered its specific prayer intentions.

“Let’s pray for religious sisters and women who are sanctified, thank you for their mission and their courage; may they continue to find new responses to the challenges of our day,” he said In his video message, the Pope said that without the presence of women religion and recognition, the church “could not be understood,” and he asked them “to distinguish and choose what was best for their mission in facing the challenges of the world we experienced.”

“I urge them to keep working and have an impact on the poor, with those who are marginalized, with all those who are enslaved by traders; I especially asked them to have an impact on this,” he said Pope Francis prayed that religious and sanctified women will continue to “show the beauty of God’s love and affection” not only through their work, “but above all through your testimony.”

“Thank you for what you do, for what you do, and for how you do it,” said the Pope.