Pope Francis has turned the spotlight on nuns and women religious, a significant action for the entire Church the world over.

The Catholic Church celebrates the 26th World Day for Consecrated life on Wednesday, February 2  .

For the 26th edition of the celebration this year, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life has addressed a letter to the world’s consecrated men and women inviting them to walk together as a community in the ‘synodal spirit of participation,’ where members exercise responsibility for one another through mutual listening, excluding no one.

 In 1997, Pope Saint John Paul II instituted a day of prayer for women and men in consecrated life. This celebration is attached to the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord on February 2nd. This Feast is also known as Candlemas Day; the day on which candles are blessed symbolizing Christ who is the light of the world.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, consecrated life “is characterized by the public profession of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, in a stable state of life recognized by the Church”.

Pope Francis, in a video message released by the  Worldwide Prayer Network (WPN) on  Feb. 1, encouraged religious sisters and consecrated women to continue to show courage amid difficulties, even if it means pushing back against the church they serve faithfully.

“I invite them to fight when, in some cases, they are treated unfairly, even within the church; when they serve so much that they are reduced to servitude, at times, by men of the church,” the pope said.

The pope offered his prayer intention for the month of February, which he dedicated to religious and consecrated women. At the start of each month, the WPN posts a short video of the pope offering his specific prayer intention.

“Let us pray for religious sisters and consecrated women, thanking them for their mission and their courage; may they continue to find new responses to the challenges of our times,” he said.

Pope Francis prayed that religious and consecrated women would continue “to show the beauty of God’s love and compassion” not only through their work, “but above all through your witness of consecration.”

In his video message, the pope said that without the presence of religious and consecrated women, the church “cannot be understood,” and he called on them “to discern and choose what is best for their mission in the face of the world’s challenges that we’re experiencing.”

“I exhort them to keep working and to have an impact with the poor, with the marginalized, with all those who are enslaved by traffickers; I especially ask them to make an impact on this,” he said.

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

World Day for Consecrated Life will be celebrated in the Church on Wednesday, February 2, 2022 and in parishes over the weekend of February 5-6.

  Catholic Church, Frank Krishner, World Day of Consecrated Life