Twelve years is a significant period of time in which choices and trajectories are consolidated or new paths are built towards new horizons. This is true for a religious Congregation such as that of the Consolata Missionary Sisters, and it is also true for the Church, which from 2013 to 2025 was guided by Pope Francis. In this article we reflect on the contribution of the Supreme Pontiff to the reflection and concrete choices that our Institute has made in these years of Pontificate.
But first, a small premise:
“YOU ARE THE POPE’S SISTERS”
Great is the affection, and at this moment the emotion, towards Pope Francis. But our Institute has always had a particular relationship with the Holy Father.
Starting with Pius X, to whom we owe the foundation of the Institute: according to the testimony of Saint Joseph Allamano, our founder, it was the Pope who encouraged him:
Then, but much later, you came, but you belong to the Pope. Once when I spoke to him about this new foundation he said to me: It must be done. – And when I added that I believed I did not have the vocation for this, he replied: If you do not have it, I will give it to you. – And here are the Sisters. (Conference to the Sisters, April 20, 1922)
On other occasions, the Founder exhorted full obedience to the Pope, even in the smallest desires:
A characteristic of the missionary must be full submission to the commands not only, but even to the smallest desires of the Pope (Conference to the Sisters, August 30, 1914).
And he used to say: you are “papaline” to indicate complete availability and loyalty in the service of the Church and the Pope.
MUCH LIFE AND MANY STEPS TAKEN
The period from 2013 to 2025 was rich in events and journeys for the Institute.
We list the most important:
- Approval of the new Constitutions (2015) and the renewal and expansion of its laws (2017-2023).
- Beatification of Sister Irene Stefani in Kenya (2015).
- Beatification of Sister Leonella Sgorbati, martyr, in Piacenza (2018).
- New organization of the communities at the continental level (since 2018).
- Openings in Central Asia: Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (2020) and Uzbekistan (2025).
- Canonization of Saint Joseph Allamano, our Founder (2024).
And yet, the Institute of the Consolata Missionaries finds itself in a process of aging and reduction, as happens to many congregations. How was all this possible? There are some intuitions of Pope Francis that have been LIGHT and ENCOURAGEMENT to us.
Here are some:
THE PERIPHERIES AND THE OUTGOING CHURCH
Pope Francis’ first apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (2013), presented a leitmotif that would accompany his entire Pontificate: going to the peripheries, both geographical and existential:
Today, in this “go” of Jesus, the ever-new scenarios and challenges of the evangelizing mission of the Church are present, and we are all called to this new missionary “going forth”. Every Christian and every community will discern which path the Lord asks, but we are all invited to accept this call: to leave our own comfort zone and have the courage to reach all the peripheries that need the light of the Gospel (n.20).
The “outgoing” Church is a Church with open doors. Going out to others to reach the human peripheries does not mean running towards the world without direction and without meaning (n.46).
In the rereading of our Charism and our apostolic choices, the word “periphery” reflects the option:
- for the first proclamation of the Gospel (the periphery of those who have not yet known Jesus, true Consolation),
- for ethnic minorities (the option for indigenous peoples in America),
- for service to migrants (in Northern Brazil, Djibouti, Italy and Portugal…).
The consolation that, charismatically, we are called to bring, refers clearly to the existential peripheries and to the service of encounter, presence and listening.
LITTLENESS
During his visit to Kazakhstan (2022), Pope Francis expressed himself as follows:
Littleness humbly delivers us to the power of God and leads us not to base ecclesial action on our abilities. And this is a grace! I repeat there is a hidden grace in being a small Church, a small flock; instead of showing off our strengths, our numbers, our structures and every other form of human relevance, we let ourselves to be guided by the Lord and we place ourselves humbly alongside people. Rich in nothing, poor in everything, we walk with simplicity, close to the sisters and brothers of our people, bringing into life’s situations the joy of the Gospel
‘Ratio Missionis’ of the Institute, a document that outlines the specific mission of the Consolata Missionary Sisters, refers to this intuition of Pope Francis, as a perspective of the mission of today and of the future. littleness is not the result of a particular historical situation, such as a decrease in personnel. It is a choice: first of all, it is the choice of God, His style, and for the mission today it is a very significant option of closeness to the people, of simplicity, of poverty that entrusts itself to divine providence and enjoys the joy of the gospel.
Photo Rivista Missioni Consolata
THE FIRE OF EMBERGS
An image used with a certain frequency by Pope Francis is that of fire. It is a symbolism very familiar to the Consolata family, because Saint Giuseppe Allamano used to repeat: “It takes fire to be an apostle!” and warned against distinguishing the fire that comes from an energetic temperament, from the true fire, which is fuelled by the love of God, and which is transmitted to those who know the Lord for the first time.
At the beginning of the Synod for the Amazon, the Pontiff stated:
The gift we have received is a fire, it is a burning love for God and for our brothers. The fire does not feed itself, it dies if it is not kept alive, it goes out if the ashes cover it. If everything remains as it is, if our days are marked by “it has always been done this way,” the gift vanishes, suffocated by the ashes of fears and the concern to defend the status quo.
The last General Chapter (2023) also used this image in its title: “The fire of the mission.” In the greeting message intended for the Chapter assembly, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, on behalf of the Holy Father Francis, addressed in these words:
The Holy Father Francis is happy to send his cordial greetings of best wishes. He hopes that this important event will revive in each one sincere intentions of generous adherence to Christ and rekindle “the fire of the mission.”
But there is a particular fire that Pope Francis speaks of, which is connected to the dimension of littleness already presented: the fire of embers. An image that the Holy Father wanted to propose to the new Cardinals, in the Consistory of August 2022:
Then there is the other fire, the fire of embers. The Lord also wants to communicate this to us, so that like Him, with meekness, with faithfulness, with closeness and tenderness – this is God’s style: closeness, compassion and tenderness – we can make many enjoy the presence of Jesus alive among us. A presence so evident, even in the mystery, that there is no need to ask: “Who are you?”, because the heart itself says that it is He, it is the Lord. This fire burns in a particular way in the prayer of adoration, when we are silent near the Eucharist and savour the humble, discreet, hidden presence of the Lord, like a fire of embers, so that this presence itself becomes nourishment for our daily life.
The communities of the Institute present in Africa have chosen the fire of embers as a sign and point of reference for missionary life in the coming years, in light of the guidelines of the General Chapter “The fire of the mission” and the intuition of the Holy Father Francis.
SYNODALITY
Finally, the choice of synodality, so important in the last years of the pontificate of Pope Francis, has deeply characterized the path of the Consolata Missionary Sisters, for many years now.
Since the drafting of the new Constitutions, a participatory process has been adopted that has involved each sister in the creation of the renewed documents. The preparation of the General Chapters (2017 and 2023) has also seen the commitment of each in the analysis and reflection of the paths taken and those still to be taken, as well as the development of specific themes (including the study and deepening of the Charism).
A significant enrichment was given by the application of the “Spiritual Conversation” as a method of community discernment, during the Interchapter (2022), the General Chapter (2023) and the Regional Conferences (2024). The spiritual conversation was the methodology used in the reflection and sharing works of the last Synod.
These are just some of the lights that Pope Francis has given to the Institute of the Consolata Missionary Sisters. We cannot fail to remember that, beyond words and intuitions, the Holy Father has testified to the fatherhood and tenderness of God towards all, and in particular towards those “discarded” by society, with gestures and attitudes that speak more than any word, and remain as an invitation to always be an OUTGOING CHURCH that like the Samaritan bends over the wounds of humanity.
THANK YOU, POPE FRANCIS!
INTERCEDE FOR US, ALWAYS!
Sister Stefania Raspo MC
