ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS TO THE BISHOPS OF THE EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE OF BURUNDI ON THEIR AD LIMINA VISIT

[…] Thus consecrated in turn bear witness to their faith in Jesus with their whole lives. “They are a necessary and precious aid to the Church’s pastoral activity but also a manifestation of the deepest nature of our Christian vocation” (Africae Munus, n. 118). I acknowledge the admirable work that the religious congregations are carrying out in the social sphere of education and healthcare, or of help to refugees who are present in great numbers in their country. They reveal the “inseparable bond between our acceptance of the message of salvation and genuine fraternal love” (Evangelii Gaudium, n. 179). I invite you to take great care of the religious life that has developed deeply in your local Churches. The many new communities which are being formed need your careful and prudent discernment in order to guarantee a solid formation for their members and to assist the changes they are called to live out in view of the good of the entire Church. […]