JOURNEY TO INDIA

MEETING WITH THE RELIGIOUS WOMEN
IN THE CATHEDRAL OF BOMBAY

ADDRESS OF POPE PAUL VI

2 December 1964

Dear Daughters in Christ,

It gives Us great happiness to visit you, and to assure you of Our paternal interest and affection, to bring you Our greeting and Our blessing.

We must tell you today how much the Church esteems you and loves you. Hearing the call of Our Lord, you have generously left your homes and families to follow Him, to minister to His needs in the Schools, in little children, in the sick, the aged and the infirm, and to dedicate lives of prayer to Him and His Church.

In the name of Jesus Christ and of the whole Catholic Church, We thank you for all that you do for Our blessed Saviour and for His Mystical Body. How great are your accomplishments, how high your merit! God will repay you, for His fidelity endures forever.

Be faithful to your vocation; be generous in every sacrifice necessary to protect and foster it. Be holy as your heavenly Father is holy; yet be also of good heart in your vocation; be cheerful and smiling, so that all may see the great happiness you feel in the unselfish imitation of Our Lord and His blessed Mother.

We pray for you, and for all those entrusted to your care, in schools, hospitals and other institutions of charity and mercy. We beg a remembrance in your prayers for Us, in the fulfilment of Our universal Fatherhood. And We lovingly impart to you, to your pupils, patients, helpers and benefactors, Our special paternal Apostolic Blessing.