Pope begins annual retreat with Curia

Pope Francis has begun the traditional Lenten retreat with the members of the Roman Curia this week. In a departure from the practice of his predecessors, the Holy Father has asked participants to gather at a retreat house run by the Pauline Fathers in the small town of Ariccia, just south of Rome.

A Jesuit priest who was the coordinator of English-language outreach and catechetical efforts for the Society at World Youth Day 2013 in Brazil and is studying Fundamental Theology at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, Fr Michael Rogers, SJ, told Vatican Radio the decision to make the retreat outside the Vatican is rooted in the spirituality of St Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus.

Fr Rogers said: “One of the things that is important in Ignatian spirituality, when one makes the annual retreat, is that one goes away.... The point is to go away, and to let everything quieten down.”

He said: “I think what the Pope is asking for, here, in having the retreatants go out to Ariccia, is an openness to the way that the Spirit is guiding them."

The Pauline Fathers' facility in Ariccia has 120 rooms, a large dining hall, several chapels, gardens and meeting rooms. The Holy Father is staying at the facility from 9-14 March. He has invited a parish priest of the Rome diocese and well regarded spiritual director for clergy, Mgr Angelo De Donatis, to preach and lead reflections on the purification of the heart.

Source: VIS