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 today 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.