Posted by ZENIT on 13 May, 2016

Below is the Vatican-provided translation of Pope Francis’ Q & A during his meeting with the International Union of Superiors General yesterday afternoon in the Vatican:

MEETING WITH THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF SUPERIORS GENERAL

12 May 2016

First question

For a better integration of women in the life of the Church
Pope Francis, you have said that “the feminine genius is necessary in all expressions of the life of the Church and of society”, and yet women are excluded from decision-making processes in the Church, especially at the highest levels, and from preaching in the Eucharist. An important obstacle to Church’s full embrace of the “feminine genius” is the bond that both decision-making processes and preaching have with priestly ordination. Do you see a way of separating from ordination both leadership roles and preaching in the Eucharist, so that our Church can be more open to receiving the genius of women in the very near future?

If the New Year was a book, this fifth PGC would be the page marker. 2014 invites us to be at the rendezvous of the events that will stand out. We are first of all invited to fraternity. The first message of Pope Francis at the 47th World Day of Peace: “fraternity, foundation and path to peace” was present to our debate when we spoke of the struggle to be had for Justice and Peace. We will have the occasion to deepen this dimension of our religious life since the next letter of Father Benoît Grière to the Congregation will talk about it and will prepare us for Year of Consecrated Life in 2015. Next April 24, John XXII and John Paul II will be canonized when a new page in the Assumptionist history will open: the session of the first Chapter of Europe, while in June for the first time, the 6th PGC will be held outside of Rome, at Saint-Lambert-des-Bois near Paris.

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In this issue:
The Joy of Announcing
Augustin and Jackson ordained priests
Spiritual accompaniment in the Assumption`
A Distinguished Humiliation
The Language that We Learn from Another
The Ordination to the Priesthood of Fr. Tran Duc Long
Lost in Moscow
What Does a General Treasurer Do? The Mission of Brother Didier Rémiot
Nîmes Celebrates One of Its Sons
Prayer for the beatification of Father Emmanuel d’Alzon
The Alliance and the Way in the Congregation

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In this issue:

Prophets for today
John reveals to the novices of the United States the freshness of the meditations of Father d’Alzon
At the Abbey of the Mont des Cats. A symbolic retreat
Meditativeness in the Assumption
The Assumption in Asia: the beginning of the long march
The Bishop of Juazeiro visits Rome
An economic summit in Rome: the Provincial Treasurers in session
T estimonies
- I saw this “old” man on his knees cleaning the toilets
- I am an Assumptionist from India
Make nationalisms disappear
The transmission: a pedagogy not a demagogy
In the footsteps of those who risked their lives for the Kingdom
The House of Rome: new faces

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