Pope Leo XIV tells Poor Clares not to lose hope as vocations decline
Meeting Capuchin Poor Clare sisters at the Vatican on September 21, Pope Leo XIV urged them to build joyful, living communities and said vocations come from prayer and spirituality, not from organizational plans
Pope Leo XIV received the participants in the Assembly of the Federation of Capuchin Poor Clare Nuns of Italy on September 21, 2026, at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. He spoke to them about the decline in vocations to religious life and asked the sisters not to give in to discouragement. Instead, he said, they should see the situation as a chance to renew their spiritual commitment and to improve the support they offer to those who knock on the doors of their monasteries.
The pope said the fall in vocations cannot become a source of hopelessness. "The fact that communities are smaller and that they fear losing their autonomy must not trouble them or deprive them of hope," he said. He encouraged the sisters to build "joyful and alive" communities where they can experience genuine intimacy with God and authentic, warm relationships, as a spur toward "a renewal of one's own life."
Vocations do not come from organizational plans or from campaigns designed in advance, the pope said, but from prayer, familiarity with the Gospel, silence and the acceptance of one's own limitations. Spirituality and the bond with the Church community are, in his view, the paths of vocational discernment.
The pope stressed the need for continuing formation, both initial and ongoing, that nourishes a deep communion among the sisters and with the Church. "Form and be formed in a cloister lived in a spirit of deep communion among yourselves and with the Church," he said. He said silence is indispensable in a society dominated by noise and haste, and that it should awaken in everyone the need to stop, discern and reflect.
The pope also recalled St. Paul's exhortation in the Letter to the Ephesians to live in a manner worthy of the vocation received, which he said requires living the Gospel with humility and self-giving. He praised the Federation's work in updating its Constitutions, which reaffirms the contemplation of divine realities and constant union with God in prayer as the first duty of religious life.
The pope closed by encouraging the sisters to look at the present and the future with hope, despite the challenges they face. Quoting St. Clare, he reminded them that they must "put their mind in the mirror of eternity."
Based on reporting by Almudena Buenadicha for Iglesia Noticias. This article was translated and adapted from Spanish with the help of artificial intelligence.
