(ANS – Rome) – Expressing the joy of the entire Institute at the election of the new Bishop of Rome, Mother Yvonne Reungoat, Superior General of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians has sent a message welcoming Pope Francis.

Your Holiness
We come to you with great joy to express our warmest wishes for the mission you have been called to by the will of the Cardinals who took part in the Conclave:  Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church and Bishop of Rome.

We are at the forefront in praying for the Pope and his high responsibilities, also because of the love for Peter's Successor that our Founder and Father, Saint John Bosco, passed on to the Salesian Family. Now that we can think of a Pope with a name and a face, our prayer is ever more keen.

The barque of Peter has a new Helmsman who has taken on the spiritual legacy of Benedict XVI, and will guide the Church in our time, full of challenges but also full of opportunities and signs of hope.

In the name of all the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians across the five continents, I express our filial loyalty to your Magisterium as Pastor and Father of the Universal Church.

We wish to express our fidelity to the Pope also through a more authentic religious life, a life loyal to the Gospel and the Salesian charism: these are sources that enliven it and give it vocational fruitfulness.

Along with the entire Church we express our commitment to New Evangelisation through the education of the youthful generations, by explicitly proclaiming Jesus.

We are convinced that only if we are his passionate disciples can we be missionaries of his love, knowing how to pass on, through our lives, the fascination of his presence that fills human existence with meaning, joy and peace.

We join you, Your Holiness, in greeting the Virgin with whom you intend to begin your Pontificate. May Mary Help of Christians continue to bless your life and make your new mission fruitful.

We offer our prayer, that in this Year of Faith you enlightened guidance may lead humanity to encounter Jesus.

Sister Yvonne Reungoat, FMA 

Published 15/03/2013