Pope Francis Recommends the Example of the New Blessed Armida Barelli who Left her "mark in the spiritual life, in education and in professional formation." FULL TEXT

SPEECH OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS

TO THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE THANKSGIVING PILGRIMAGE

OF THE BEATIFICATION OF ARMIDA BARELLI

Pope Francis greets some 12,000 faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square to give thanks for the beatification a year ago of the Blessed Armida Barelli, a formidable pioneer of the right and duty of women to participate in the life of civil society and of the Church.

St. Peter's Square on Saturday, April 22, 2023

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Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

I am happy that so many of you have come to give thanks to the Lord for the Beatification of Armida Barelli, which took place a year ago in Milan. I thank the youth director of Catholic Action who became the "spokesperson" of everyone, i.e. of the three realities that promoted the cause of beatification: the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Italian Catholic Action and the Missionaries of the Kingship of Christ .

I address myself first of all to you at the Catholic University. Armida Barelli was one of the founders and from this we can derive a first trait of her figure: she was a generative woman. Let's reflect for a moment on this aspect.

The woman is the privileged custodian of generativity - we know this - which can be achieved thanks to the dialogue of reciprocity with the man. Barelli was the weaver of great works and she did it by creating a formidable web of relationships, traveling the length and breadth of Italy and keeping in touch with everyone. This is documented by her numerous and passionate letters.

Today, unfortunately, there is no shortage of pushes of the opposite sign, i.e. de-generative. They are very harmful to family life, but can also be observed on a social level, in polarizations and extremisms that leave no room for dialogue and have a dehumanizing effect. Don't leave room for dialogue: let's think about this for a bit.

Also with respect to the theme of female leadership in the ecclesial and social spheres - of which Barelli can be considered a formidable forerunner - we need an integrated model, which combines competence and performance, often associated with the male role, with the care of bonds, listening, the ability to mediate, to network and to grow relationships, for a long time considered the prerogative of the female gender and often underestimated in their productive value. In short, also in this case it is integration, the reciprocity of differences that guarantees generativity also in the social and work fields. This is a task entrusted in a particular way to the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, whose 99th National Day is being celebrated tomorrow on the theme: "For the love of knowledge. The challenges of the new humanism". Today this great academic institution is called to have the same educational impetus and the same formative initiative that guided Father Agostino Gemelli and Blessed Armida Barelli.

In particular, Barelli, through the University, has contributed to forming civil conscience in hundreds of thousands of young people, including many women. A work that will become particularly visible when, after the war, it will be a question of rebuilding the country by starting a democratic process. Even today we need women who, guided by faith, are capable of leaving their mark in the spiritual life, in education and in professional formation.

Thank you, friends of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart! Blessed Armida continue to inspire your work.

I now turn to you, brothers and sisters of Catholic Action, and I would like to highlight a second trait of the Blessed: the first trait was her generativity, the second trait of the Blessed is being an apostle. It's different, it's a different thing. One can generate things, but not be an apostle; Barelli gave birth and was an apostle.

We know that the Kingdom of God sprouts, grows and bears fruit continuously everywhere: Armida Barelli's life expresses this dynamic and allows us to contemplate how the Lord accomplishes great things when people make themselves available and docile to his will, committing themselves with humility, creativity and resourcefulness. Her biography tells of great perseverance in trying to remain with the Lord, like a branch in the vine, and shows her desire to share this experience with many others. She remain in the Lord like a branch in the vine.

Armida writes that, after accepting the Pope's proposal to found the Women's Youth in Italy, she feels "that she no longer belongs", that she has to make her own existence a gift for others, that she herself is "a mission", beyond beyond its limits and imperfections. Indeed, “our imperfection should not be an excuse; on the contrary, the mission is a constant stimulus not to settle down in mediocrity and to continue to grow" (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium, 121). Thus the invitation of the Blessed still resounds today not to be satisfied with living in an accommodating way, settling between compromises and self-absolutions - "I can't do it", "I'm not up to it", "I don't have time" and so on - , but rather to live as apostles of and in joy.

Being apostles means being laymen and women passionately, passionate about the Gospel and life, taking care of everyone's good life and building paths of fraternity to give life to a more just, more inclusive, more supportive society. And it is important to do all of this together, in the beauty of an associative experience which, on the one hand, trains us to know how to listen and dialogue with everyone and, on the other, expresses that "greater we" which educates us in ecclesial life, life of people walking together.

In the fields of economy, culture, politics, school and work, in constant attention to the smallest, the frail and the poor, I encourage you to seek ways to walk with everyone, pursuing peace and justice. This is what Blessed Armida Barelli did in her time with a spirit of total entrustment to the Lord and with a style marked by concreteness.

At the heart of associative life there should always be integral formation, and at the heart of formation evangelical spirituality. Being rooted and dedicated to the life of your local Churches will always nourish the missionary impulse in you, to broaden your heart and your contemplative gaze on the world even more. We accept the exhortation of Blessed Armida, the "older sister", to love, love, love; to love without measure, regenerated by the love of God, which transforms people's lives, in a concrete and credible way, and activates processes and paths of social renewal through people. Thank you, members of Catholic Action!

And now I turn to the Missionaries of the Kingship of Christ, and so we can highlight in Armida her being consecrated in the world.

Secular consecration is a vocation, and a demanding one. The approval of secular institutes by Pius XII with the Provida Mater Ecclesia was a revolutionary choice in the Church, a prophetic sign. And since then the good you have done to the Church has been so great, courageously giving your witness in the world.

Secular consecration is the paradigm of a new way of living as lay people in the world: lay people capable of perceiving the seeds of the Word within the folds of history, committed to animating it from within like leaven, capable of making the most of the seeds of good present in earthly realities as a prelude to the coming Kingdom, promoters of human values, weavers of relationships, silent and effective witnesses of evangelical radicalism. Saint Paul VI said: «If they remain faithful to their proper vocation, Secular Institutes will almost become the "experimental laboratory" in which the Church verifies the concrete modalities of her relations with the world». [1]

Yours, dear sisters, is a female secular institute, and this calls into question women and their particular vocation in the Church and in the world. Blessed Armida, with this form of life, promoted them in a new way, following the example of many women witnesses of the Gospel down the centuries. The model that you too have proposed in consecrated life is a new image of a woman, not to be "protected" and kept aside, but to be sent to build the Kingdom, giving her trust.

Armida was able to read the signs of the times and her most urgent needs: think of the need for a renewed care of spirituality; let us think of formation and the call to commitment for young women; let us think of the educational challenge and the dream of a Catholic university in Italy; let us think of the passion for the world, starting from the certainty of the universality of Christ's message. These needs were for Armida Barelli a field of commitment and mission.

Thus she anticipated the times of the Second Vatican Council, putting into practice a community style in which women and men, young people and adults, lay people and priests, collaborate together for the apostolic purpose of the Church, all together protagonists of the same mission by virtue of Baptism. We often find it difficult to embark on a path of commitment, because we think we are never up to it, in personal choices and in those of community service. If you Armida were here to speak today, you would still tell us that if we entrust ourselves to the Lord nothing is impossible. Entrusting yourself to him is not a delegation, it is an act of faith that gives strength and impetus to hope and action. So thanks also to you, Missionaries of the Kingship of Christ!

Dear brothers and sisters, Blessed Armida has brought us together and helped us to recognize these essential traits of being Christian today: generativity, being apostles and consecration in the world. Generativity, apostolate and consecration in the world. Everyone can welcome her example according to their own vocation: it is a treasure for all of us, for the whole Church. So I thank you so much for this meeting. I bless you all and ask you not to forget to pray for me. Thank you.

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[1] Discorso al Consiglio Esecutivo della Conferenza Mondiale degli Istituti Secolari (in francese, 25 agosto 1976).