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Pope meets with nuns, tells them not to be 'old maids', warns against personal ambition

Associated Press
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Pope Francis exchanges skull caps with a young girl after stepping out of his pope-mobile to walk the last part of his way to the altar, to deliver his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, May, 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) (The Associated Press)

Pope Francis steps out of his pope-mobile to greet faithful and walk the last part of his way to the altar to deliver his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, May, 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) (The Associated Press)

Pope Francis caresses a child as he is driven through the crowd in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican during his weekly general audience, Wednesday, May 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) (The Associated Press)

Pope Francis has told nuns from around the world that they must be spiritual mothers and not "old maids."

Francis also warned the sisters against using their vocations for personal ambition, saying priests and sisters who do so "do more harm to the church."

Francis has complained frequently about such "careerism" in the church — a buzzword that is frequently used to describe Holy See bureaucrats.

The pope made the comments during an audience Wednesday with about 800 sisters attending an assembly of the International Union of Superiors General, which gathers the leaders of women's religious orders from some 75 countries.

The meeting came before Francis' general audience in St. Peter's Square, where in a break with tradition, he walked around a quadrant of the square greeting pilgrims.