Junno Arocho Esteves

The humility of silence can help Christians sift through the loud and divisive noise in the world in order to listen to and discern God's will, Pope Francis told a group of Capuchin sisters.

Pope Francis encouraged religious sisters and consecrated women to continue to show courage amid difficulties, even if it means pushing back against the church they serve faithfully.

Religious women must live out their calling in a spirit of openness that gives hope to those who have none and closes the generational gap between young and old, Pope Francis said.

The 46-year-old Italian is an economist and professor of economic policy, an adviser to the governing office of Vatican City State, and a consultant to the Synod of Bishops.

Pope Francis recognized the martyrdom of 10 nuns who were brutally murdered by Soviet soldiers in Poland at the end of World War II and declared venerable Robert Schuman, who is considered one of the founding fathers of European unity.

Pope Francis has recognized the martyrdom of Sr. Agustina Rivas Lopez, a member of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, who was killed by guerrillas in Peru in 1990.

Marking the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of St. Teresa of Ávila as a doctor of the church, Francis said her "audacity, creativity and excellence as a reformer are the fruit of the interior presence of the Lord."

Christian hope is rooted in the knowledge that God is patient with all his children, even when they stray from the path set before them, Pope Francis told consecrated men and women.

Remembering the three U.S. religious women and a laywoman brutally murdered during El Salvador's civil war, Pope Francis hailed them as examples of faith and missionary discipleship.

The decrease in the number of religious brothers and of women in religious orders is "worrying," according to the Vatican statistics office.