“If Catherine of Siena is the saintly woman full of passion for the Blood of Christ, the great St. Teresa is the woman who goes from “mansion” to “mansion” to the threshold of the great King in the Interior Castle, and Therese of the Child Jesus is the one who, in Gospel simplicity, travels the little way, Clare is the passionate lover of the poor, crucified Christ, with whom she wants to identify absolutely.” 

– Pope Saint John Paul II, Letter to the Poor Clares,
August 11, 1993