They don’t have a vote in the conclave, but nuns leading the world’s religious orders gather in Rome

ROME (AP) - They don’t have a vote in the election of a pope, but nearly 900 superiors of the world’s female religious orders gathered in Rome on Monday to chart a course forward, just a few miles away from where cardinals will begin voting this week to choose a successor to Pope Francis.

Sister Mary Barron, the president of the umbrella group of leaders of women’s religious orders, urged the superiors and the thousands of nuns around the world who are involved in a myriad of ministries to pray that the cardinals make the right choice and ponder how to carry forward Pope Francis ‘ vision.

"We must be vigilant in doing our part to keep that flame of church renewal alive," she told the assembly of sisters, dressed in regular clothes and traditional habits. Many had headphones over their veils as her opening remarks were simultaneously translated in multiple languages.

The International Union of Superiors General, which gathers superiors representing more than 450,000 religious sisters throughout the world, is holding its plenary assembly this week - at the same time that 133 cardinal electors will enter the Sistine Chapel to elect a successor to Pope Francis.

The Catholic Church reserves the priesthood to men, so only men will choose the leader of the 1.4-billion strong church.

Barron exhorted her fellow sisters, who last gathered in a general assembly in 2022, to continue to embrace Francis’ vision of a church that listens to all, and being witnesses "daring to dream a future that reflects the boundless love of God."

Quoting from poets Emily Dickinson and Maya Angelou, she also called her religious sisters to not only meet the needs of the world’s most marginalized, but to do so as "a source of hope."

"Our path forward might not be clear or conventional, but it’s illuminated by the language of hope," Barron said.

Standing and holding hands during the opening prayer, the sisters told each other in half a dozen languages "we’re pilgrims of hope.”

Among those present at the assembly in a conference hotel on Rome’s outskirts was Sister Nathalie Becquart - whom Pope Francis elevated as the first female undersecretary in the Vatican's Synod of Bishops office in 2021.

Many saw in that a sign that the rigidly male Catholic hierarchy might finally open to allow women to assume high-level decision-making responsibilities.