Pretoria, 06 February, 2022 / 9:43 pm (ACI Africa).
A Catholic Nun in South Africa has lauded Pope Francis for putting a spotlight on women Religious in his prayer intention for February this year.
In an interview with ACI Africa, Sr. Nkhensani Shibambu who is the Superior General of the Companions of St. Angela and doubles as the President of the Leadership Conference of Consecrated Life (LCCL) in Southern Africa underscored the significant role of women Religious in the life of the Church, including catechism and youth formation among other outreach programs.
Pope Francis’ prayer intention for February 2022 focuses on Religious Sisters and Consecrated Women. In a video message, the Holy Father invites Catholics to “pray for religious sisters and consecrated women; thanking them for their mission and their courage.”
“May they (religious sisters and consecrated women) continue to find new responses to the challenges of our times,” Pope Francis says in the video message in which he asks what the Church would be without women Religious.
Women Religious are an “integral part of the Church,” Sr. Shibambu told ACI Africa, and added, “The Church would not have grown as far as it has without that role that consecrated men and women have played. You look at education. Most of us have been educated in Catholic schools which were predominantly run by women religious.”