exclamation

Important notice: To continue serving our valued readers during the postal disruption, complete unrestricted access to the digital edition is available at no extra cost. This will ensure uninterrupted digital access to your copies. Click here to view the digital edition, or learn more.

Pope Francis CNS photo/Remo Casilli, Reuters

Promote 'culture of resurrection,' pope tells Christian Brothers

By 
  • May 16, 2019

VATICAN CITY -- Like their founder, St. John Baptist de La Salle, the Christian Brothers' must continue their educational mission and restore life to areas where poverty and suffering have taken away the hope of a future, Pope Francis said.

Meeting with 300 members of the LaSallian Christian Brothers at the Vatican May 16, the pope encouraged them to promote a "'culture of resurrection,' especially in those existential contexts where the culture of death prevails."

"Do not tire of going in search of those who find themselves in the modern 'tombs' of bewilderment, degradation, discomfort and poverty, to offer hope for a new life," he said.

The Christian Brothers' meeting with the pope coincided with the 300th anniversary of St. John Baptist de la Salle's death.

Praising the saintly founder as a "pioneer in the field of education," the pope said his witness was shown not only through his creation of new teaching methods, but also in his "conviction that education is a right for everyone, even the poor."

"It was this conviction that led him to establish an original experience of consecrated life: the presence of religious educators who, without being priests, interpreted the role of 'lay monks' in a new way, immersing themselves totally in the reality of their time and thus contributing to the progress of civil society," he said.

Pope Francis called on the Christian Brothers to continue in their founder's footsteps so that they may "work with greater generosity at the service of the new evangelization in which the whole church is engaged today."

"May you carry out with renewed vigor your mission among the younger generations, with that reform-minded boldness that characterized St. John Baptist de la Salle: proclaim to all the Gospel of hope and charity," the pope said.

Please support The Catholic Register

Unlike many media companies, The Catholic Register has never charged readers for access to the news and information on our website. We want to keep our award-winning journalism as widely available as possible. But we need your help.

For more than 125 years, The Register has been a trusted source of faith-based journalism. By making even a small donation you help ensure our future as an important voice in the Catholic Church. If you support the mission of Catholic journalism, please donate today. Thank you.

DONATE