Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on 29 June, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, in the year 2016, the fourth of my Pontificate.FRANCISCUS

The document, prepared on behalf of Pope Francis by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. It contains an Application Instruction of the Apostolic Constitution Vultum Dei quaerere, offering "to the Church with particular reference to the monasteries of the Latin rite", with the aim of clarifying the provisions of the law, developing and determining the procedures in its execution.

Watch the Highlights Video of the June 24 live panel discussion from Rome.??????? When Pope Francis' pontificate has passed, it's very likely that one of the nineteen cardinals featured in these pages will be elected to become the next Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, the spiritual leader of over a billion Catholics and the most influential and widely respected moral and religious figure in the world. Yet outside the Vatican walls, despite the considerable roles that some of these men play in the Church and in the world, few of them are known by the public — or even by their brother cardinals. Hence this book, an engrossing and thoroughly documented instrument through which a future pope may be known

In his latest address to consecrated people, Pope Francis expresses his appreciation for "contemplative sisters", emphasising that the Church needs them "to bring today's men and women to the good news of the Gospel". This is not an easy mission, in view of the current situation in the world, which Francis suggests is "dominated by the mindset of power, wealth and consumerism". However, this is the challenge indicated by the Pope to contemplative sisters: to be "beacons and torches" that guide and accompany humanity on its journey and a "stairway" by which God descends to encounter humanity, and humanity ascends to encounter God and to contemplate his face in the face of Christ.