(ANSA) - Vatican City, January 31 - The Catholic Church is "haemorrhaging" monks and nuns with some 2,300 religious having quit their orders in 2015 and 2016, the head of the relevant Vatican department, Cardinal José Rodríguez Carballo, told Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano Tuesday, quoting Pope Francis.
Carballo, secretary for the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, said Francis was aware of the "crisis" in vocations for the monastic life and planned to do something about it.
"If the pope speaks of haemorrhage it means the problem is worrying, not only for the high number but also the age at which it is occurring, mostly between 30 and 50, Msgr Carballo said.
At a plenary session of his Congregation, which just ended, "we reached three conclusions: the high number of those leaving holy life to join a diocese, the not-insignificant number of the contemplatives who leave holy life and the number of those who say they never felt a vocation".
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