Pope Leo XIV said we should “allow ourselves to be challenged” by the presence of those who suffer “without fear of abandoning our own security” during an audience this week with the general chapters of two women’s religious congregations with strong missionary outreaches.

The two orders present were the Religious of Jesus and Mary, founded by St. Claudine Thévenet, and the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo, known as the Scalabrinians, who are dedicated to the pastoral care of migrants and refugees.

During his Nov. 6 address at the Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father noted that both congregations, though they originated in different circumstances, were founded “out of the same love for the poor.”

Specifically, he noted that St. Claudine Thévenet and the Religious of Jesus and Mary served “young women in difficult situations,” while St. Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, Blessed Assunta Marchetti, and Venerable Don Giuseppe Marchetti, founders of the Scalabrinians, served migrants. 

The pope urged the sisters to spend these days “humbly listening to God and in courageous attention to the needs of others.”

“This requires courage, so as to let ourselves be challenged by the presence of those who suffer, without fear of abandoning our own security, and to venture, if the Lord asks it, onto new paths,” he noted.

The pope also highlighted the profound harmony between the guiding themes chosen by both congregations for their chapters: “Jesus himself drew near” (Lk 24:15) for the Religious of Jesus and Mary, and “Wherever you go, I will go” (Ruth 1:16) for the Scalabrinian missionaries.

“These are complementary themes,” the pope affirmed, “because they express the dynamics of your foundations. Indeed, they bring together God’s initiative and our response.”

‘The most important insights are gained on our knees’

“During these days,” the pope said, “may he always be at the center. Give plenty of space, then, to prayer and silence throughout the course of your work … the most important insights are gained ‘on our knees,’ and what matures in the meeting rooms of the chapter needs to be sown and sifted before the tabernacle and in listening to the word.”

The Holy Father emphasized that listening to God and listening to one another are inseparable. “Only by listening to the Lord,” he affirmed, “do we learn to truly listen to one another.”

Pope Leo also recalled the difficult circumstances in which both institutes were founded: the French Revolution for the Religious of Jesus and Mary, and an era of mass emigration for the Scalabrinians.

“None of them backed down or became discouraged,” the pontiff emphasized, “even in the face of the difficulties that arose after their foundations.”

He pointed out that the secret of such fidelity lies precisely in the “encounter with the risen Jesus. That is where it all began for them and also for you. That is where we begin and from where we start again, when necessary, in order to carry on with courage and tenacity in spending ourselves in charity,” he encouraged.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.