By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Just as “the habit does not make
the monk,” taking a vow of poverty does not automatically mean a
consecrated person lives with a detachment from material things and in
solidarity with the poor, Pope Francis said.
In fact, “the hypocrisy of consecrated men and women
who live like the rich wounds the consciences of the faithful and damages the
church,” the pope said in a written message Nov. 26 to treasurers of
religious orders.
Taking a vow of poverty and having no personal property is
not fulfilling the vow “if my institute allows me to manage or enjoy all the
goods I desire,” the pope told the religious, who were in Rome for a
symposium on economics and religious life.
The founding “charism” — literally
“grace” — or ideal of a religious order is not “static or
rigid,” the pope said. Rather, members of orders must continually look at
the world and the church and discern how God wants that original grace to be
lived in the world today with the human and material resources the order has.
In the world at large, but particularly in religious life,
he said, what one does with money is never morally neutral: “Either it
contributes to building relationships of justice and solidarity or it generates
situations of exclusion and rejection.”
Inspired by the founding charism and realistic about an
order’s resources, the pope said, “we are called to create fraternity,
communion and solidarity with the poorest and most needy” without being
distracted or waylaid by the “diabolical logic of profit — the devil
often enters through the wallet or credit card.”
As the majority of members of many religious orders age and
as building maintenance costs increase, he said, orders have to be serious
about discerning whether or not a particular work or project is an authentic
response both to the order’s charism and to the needs of people today.
Projects that are not sustainable should be closed or the
order should find other religious orders or church groups with a similar focus
to help continue the work.
Sometimes, he said, discernment will lead an order to keep
open a work that will never be financially self-supporting.
Works that are always worth continuing, the pope said,
“give dignity back” to those whom society often discards: “the
unborn, those who are sick and aged and those with serious disabilities.”
Members of religious orders are called to be models for the
world of a Christian way of dealing with money and economic decisions, he said.
“It must start with the little daily choices. Everyone is called to do his
or her part, to use goods in a way that promotes solidarity, to care
for creation” and to ensure that a religious community is not living
extravagantly better than the people in the neighborhood.
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