[Introduction]

1. We particularly welcome the occasion offered by your presence at the Congress of Teaching Sisters to express Our heartfelt and paternal praise for the activities of Sisters in the school and in education both in Italy and throughout the Catholic world. How could the Church have fulfilled her mission of education and charity during these last few years, especially in the immediate past, without the aid given, with so much zeal, by hundreds of thousands of Sisters. How otherwise could the Church fulfill her mission today?

2. No doubt, there are many other useful and energetic women working with or beside nuns or dedicating themselves to the apostolate of the laity. We have in mind especially the good Catholic women teachers in the State schools. But even they must not wonder if, today, We turn to you, beloved daughters, gathered around Us as representatives of the religious orders and congregations devoted to the apostolate of the school and education. May the dedication, love, and sacrifices that more often than not you bear in obscurity for the love of Christ and the benefit of young people bring forth fruit a hundredfold in the future as they did in the past. May Our Lord reward you and shower upon you the abundance of His Divine favors.

3. We hope all the more fervently that this may be so because with you We are aware of the crisis through which your schools and educational institutions are passing. It is a question of the youth of today and convent schools. In your congress you have doubtlessly had the opportunity of treating this subject fully. Many points concerning you no less than priests and Brothers in religious orders have already been discussed by Us in Our address of December 8, 1950. For this reason, We can confine Ourselves now to those aspects of your problem which, in Our opinion need more consideration.