{"id":31972,"date":"2026-06-23T19:11:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T02:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/?p=31972"},"modified":"2026-06-23T19:15:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T02:15:03","slug":"cardinal-fernandez-artime-sdb-let-the-decline-in-the-number-of-religious-become-an-opportunity-for-renewal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/2026\/06\/23\/cardinal-fernandez-artime-sdb-let-the-decline-in-the-number-of-religious-become-an-opportunity-for-renewal\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinal Fern\u00e1ndez Artime, SDB: \u201cLet the Decline in the Number of Religious Become an Opportunity for Renewal\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>(ANS \u2013 Turin)<\/strong> \u2013 On Saturday, June 13, 2026, hundreds of people\u2014including young people, Salesians, and women religious\u2014listened attentively to Cardinal \u00c1ngel Fern\u00e1ndez Artime at the Salesian Mother House in Valdocco, Turin. The Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and Rector Major Emeritus publicly presented his interview-based book, <em>A Future Without Numbers and Without Walls: A Conversation on Consecrated Life<\/em> (Edizioni San Paolo), edited by Fr. Giuseppe Costa, SDB. He also shared his impressions of the historic papal visit to Spain, in which Cardinal Fern\u00e1ndez Artime participated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The occasion, as explained by the Rector of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, Fr. Michele Viviano, was the 158th anniversary of the consecration of the Basilica, celebrated on June 9, 1868. The Basilica was built by St. John Bosco, whose mortal remains now rest within it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Drawing on his recent book of interviews, Cardinal Artime began by saying that the time available would not be enough \u201cto share my reflections on religious life following the seven intense days spent in Spain with the Holy Father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2018For example, in the Canary Islands I met men and women religious who stand alongside migrants and who, just as in Turin\u2014the birthplace of the \u201csocial saints\u201d\u2014continue, in accordance with the charism of their founders, the work of welcoming and comforting people wherever there are social problems and a search for meaning in a world that is increasingly indifferent to suffering.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In response to questions from Sister Maria Trigila of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and the Presidency of the Union of Major Superiors of Italy (USMI)\u2013Sicily, and from Fr. Costa, regarding the possibility of overcoming the current challenge of declining vocations (\u201cthe numbers\u201d) and diminishing religious works (\u201cthe walls\u201d), the Cardinal stated that the decline in the number of religious should not be a cause for concern or distress. It should be viewed<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201crather as an opportunity for the renewal of consecrated life: with communities that are simpler to manage, more family-oriented, and closer to the people, outside those fortress-like religious houses that have often become more of a burden than a resource.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is one thing to speak of Teresa of Avila\u2019s \u2018interior castle\u2019; it is quite another to shelter ourselves within the walls and barriers of the past. Today, humanity\u2014and we have experienced this firsthand in Spain over the past few days as people welcomed the Successor of Peter\u2014is in great need of a contemplative life lived within the reality of everyday life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the Salesian cardinal, anyone who encounters consecrated men and women \u201cmust feel that they are meeting people who are happy because they are deeply faithful and surrendered to God. Then consecrated life will have a future because it will be inspiring even for younger generations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(ANS \u2013 Turin) \u2013 On Saturday, June 13, 2026, hundreds of people\u2014including young people, Salesians, and women religious\u2014listened attentively to Cardinal \u00c1ngel Fern\u00e1ndez Artime at the Salesian Mother House in Valdocco, Turin. The Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and Rector Major Emeritus publicly presented his interview-based book, A Future Without Numbers and Without Walls: A Conversation &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/2026\/06\/23\/cardinal-fernandez-artime-sdb-let-the-decline-in-the-number-of-religious-become-an-opportunity-for-renewal\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continuar leyendo <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Cardinal Fern\u00e1ndez Artime, SDB: \u201cLet the Decline in the Number of Religious Become an Opportunity for Renewal\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":10336596,"featured_media":31975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[782003439,516714022],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formation","category-salesian-world-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salesianbulletin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026-06-23-Artime-feature.jpg?fit=1600%2C875&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59ePG-8jG","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10336596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31972"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31977,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31972\/revisions\/31977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}