Pope to contemplative nuns: The importance of silence in a world marked by speed

By Johan Pacheco

“Faith and calling can also guide this meeting of ours,” Pope Leo XIV said as he met with the International Commission of Dominican Contemplative Nuns at the Vatican on the morning of September 30.

He emphasized “that the contemplative vocation, in the Dominican spirit and in the Church as a whole, does not stand on the margins of the mission, but is its beating heart.”

The Pope expressed his joy at receiving them “shortly after the recognition of the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Sister Maria Petra Giordano, a professed nun of the Order of Preachers, who made faith and vocation the fixed points of her consecrated life.”

The Pope also recalled contributions from Dominican spirituality that guide the contemplative religious vocation, such as the writings of Jordan of Saxony, who described “the nuns of the first female communities, devoting themselves primarily to contemplative prayer and study, accompanying the preaching of the brothers through penance and participating in the same charism.”

He also referred to Saint Thomas Aquinas, who “takes up Saint Dominic’s insight that every word of proclamation, if it is to be true, must have its origin in silence, listening, prayer, and a profound relationship with God.”

Pope Leo with Dominican contemplative nuns   (@Vatican Media)

Silence and prayer

The Pope therefore urged the nuns to ensure that their gatherings “are always, first and foremost, moments of encounter with the Lord together: in prayer, in mutual listening, in fraternal correction, and in reconciliation.” He placed particular emphasis on “silence” as a fundamental value of cloistered life.

“To be silent is an act of the will, which involves the whole person and helps one to live solid relationships, because they are animated by the Word of God. It means creating spaces of freedom and truth, in which to safeguard attention, becoming sensitive to the voice of those who ‘do not count,’ and growing in wisdom and generosity,” he said.

Pope Leo XIV at the meeting   (@Vatican Media)

Listening to the voice of the Spirit

Pope Leo reiterated that the value of silence “is particularly important in a world marked by speed, in which everything has to be immediately visible and every emptiness is quickly filled.”

Lastly, the Pope invited them to listen to “what the Spirit is asking of Dominican contemplative life today, being aware that, before there are tasks to be carried out, there is a call to which we must respond, a fire that burns and must not be allowed to die, as Saint Catherine of Siena said.”

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“Your service to the Church is precious: continue it with confidence, in communion and with discernment, united but without becoming uniform, faithful to tradition and open to what is new, contemplative because you are capable of bringing the world before God,” Pope Leo XIV concluded.