Conversation Between Pope Francis and Religious Superiors to be Published Today

At 3 p.m. Rome time today, La Civiltà Cattolica will publish an article on a conversation between Pope Francis and the Union of Superiors General of Men

The long dialogue concerns the challenges faced by religious life and the entire Church. 

Father Antonio Spadaro, editor-in-chief of the periodical sponsored by the Society of Jesus, joined the 120 superiors general who met with the Pope last November 29.

He recounts the free and spontaneous conversation that took place that day in a 15 page chronicle of the meeting, written in light of the recent teaching of Pope Francis.

The journal says that among the many themes that surfaced are "our complicated life which consists of grace and sin; being prophets in our world, fraternal community, complaint of a “novice slave trade” and of attitudes such as hypocrisy and fundamentalism, praise for Benedict XVI’s courageous decisions in confronting cases of abuse, the importance of charisms, the most urgent challenges, the relation between religious and bishops, the need for tenderness, knowing how to “caress conflicts,” and a jolt that is able to awaken our benumbed world."