Pope has unscheduled meeting with Cameroon religious

As he prepares to leave the country on Saturday after a final public Mass, the Pope urged these missionaries to get involved in ensuring his messages are put into practice.

Over the course of these days, the Successor of Peter has preached peace and unity, but also honesty and integrity, repeatedly denouncing corruption and abuse, as well as superstitions. He has also encouraged efforts to prevent the emigration of the younger generations.

“Consecrated life is an essential part of the life of the Church!” the pontiff told the religious this evening. Himself a member of the Order of Saint Augustine, he acknowledged that “consecrated life requires courage, and at times a certain radicalism in the choice to proclaim without fear what Jesus teaches us in the Gospel.” He asked them to be “disciples who engage with the most complex problems, the most remote peripheries, the least among us, prisoners, and those most in need of hope and God’s love.”

During this exchange, Leo XIV urged them to “recognize and […] promote the various charisms of the congregations present in each diocese,” the note adds. The religious confided to the Pontiff their “need for greater collaboration with bishops and diocesan priests.”

The Pope also called for particular attention to be paid to the formation of candidates, which, in his view, must prepare them “to embrace a life of sacrifice, self-giving, and service within a community.” Finally, he encouraged reflection on certain challenges “such as coexistence between people of different religions, and youth ministry."