Pope says priests must adhere
completely to Christ and the Church
March 12, 2010
An International Theological Convention with the theme 'Faithfulness of Christ, Faithfulness of the Priest'took place at the Pontifical Lateran Unviersity March 11-12 under the sponsorhip of the Congregation for the Clergy.
At 12:15 Friday morning, the Holy Father received the convention participants in the Aula della Benedizione of St. Peter's Basilica, during which he addressed them in Italian. Here is a translation of the address:
Eminent Cardinals.
Dear brothers in the Episcopate and Priesthood,
Distinguished Convention Participants:
I am happy to meet you on this particular occasion, and I greet everyone with affection. A special thought for Cardinal Claudio Hummes, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, whom I thank for the words he addressed to me.
My thanks to the entire dicastery for its efforts in coordinating the multiple initiatives of the Year for Priests, such as this theological convention on the theme "The faithfulness of Christ, the faithfulness of the priest". I rejoice at this initiative which has the participation of more than 50 bishops and more than 500 priests, many of you national or diocesan offials responsible for the clergy and for continuing formation of the clergy.
Your attention to topics regarding the ministerial priesthood is one of the results of this special Year that I decreed precisely to "promote the commitment to interior renewal of all priests towards a stronger and more incisive evangelical testimony in today's world (Letter decreeing the Year for Priests).
The topic of priestly identity, which was the objective of your first day of study, is decisive for the exercise of the ministerial priesthood now and in the future. In a time like ours, which is so 'polycentric' and which tends to blur every type of identity concept - considered by many to be contrary to freedom and democracy - it is important to be very clear about the theological specificity of the ordained ministry, in order not to yield to the temptation of reducing it to the prevailing cultural categories.
In the context of widespread secularization, which is progressively excluding God from the public sphere, and trending even to his exclusion from the collective social consciousness, the priest often appears 'extraneous' to common sense, precisely for the most fundamental aspects of his ministry, such as being a man of the sacred, removed from the world in order to intercede for the world, constituted in this mission by God and not by men (cfr Heb 5,1).
For this reason, it is important to overcome dangerous reductionisms that in past decades, have presented the priest as almost a 'social worker', risking betrayal of the Priesthood of Christ himself.
Just as it appears ever more urgent to apply a hermeneutic of continuity in order to adequately understand the texts of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, analogously, a hermeneutic that we may call one of 'priestly continuity' is also needed, which starts from Jesus of Nazareth, Lord and Christ, passing through 2000 years of a history of greatness and holiness, of culture and piety, that the priesthood has written in the world, and has come down to our day.
Dear brother priests, in the times in we live, it is particularly impportant that the call to take part in the unique Priesthood of Christ through the ordained ministry may flourish in the 'charism of prophecy': there is a great need for priests who speak of God to the world and who present the world to God - men who are not subject to ephemeral cultural modes, but able to authentically live that freedom which only the certainty of belonging to God can give.
As your convention has underscored well, today the most needed prophecy is that of faithfulness, which, starting with Christ's faithfulness to mankind, through the Church and the ministerial priesthood, leads to living one's own priesthood in total adherence to Christ and to the Church.
In fact, the priest no longer belongs to himself, but, through the sacramental seal he received (cfr Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos. 1563; 1582), becomes the 'property' of God. This quality of 'belonging to Another' should be recognizable to everyone through the priest's limpid testimony.
In how he thinks, talks, judges the facts of the world, how he serves and loves, how he relates to persons, and even in his habit, the priest should draw prophetic power from his sacramental belonging, from his profound being. Consequently, he should take every care not to place himself under the dominant mentality, which tends to associate the value of the minister not to his being but only to his function - thus misunderstanding the work of God which leaves a mark on the profound identity of the priest's person, configuring it to himself in a definitive way (cfr ibid., No, 1503).
The horizon of ontological belonging to God also constitutes the right framework for understanding and reaffirming, even in our day, the value of holy celibacy, which in the Latin Church is a charism required for Holy Orders (cfr Presbyterorum Ordinis, 16) and is held in greatest consideration by the Eastern Churches (cfr CCEO, can. 373).
It is an authentic prophecy of the Kingdom, sign of consecration with undivided heart to the Lord and to "the things of the Lord" (1Cor 7,32), an expression of the gift of oneself to God and to others (cfr Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1579).
Thus, that of the priest is a very high calling which remains a great mystery even for us who have received it as a gift. Our limitations and our weaknesses should lead us to live and guard with profound faith sucn a precious gift with which Christ has configured us to himself, making us participants in his salvific Mission.
In fact, understanding the ministerial priesthood is linked to faith, and calls, ever more strongly, for a radical continuity between seminary formation and continuing permanent formation. The prophetic life, without compromises, with which we serve God and the world, announcing the Gospel and celebrating the Sacraments, will favor the coming of the Kingdom of God which is already present, and the growth in faith of the People of God.
Dearest priests, the men and women of our time only ask of us to be priests to the core and nothing else. The lay faithful will find in so many other persons that which they need humanly, but it is only in the priest that they will find the Word of God which should always be on their lips (cfr Presbyterorum Ordinis, 4); the mercy of the Father, abundantly and freely given in the Sacrament of Reconciliation; the Bread of new life, 'true food given to men" (cfr Hymn of the Office on the Solemnity of Corpus Domini in the Roman Rite).
Let us ask God , through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Jean Marie Vianney, to be able to thank him every day for the great gift of vocation and to live our priesthood with full and joyous faithfulness.
Thank you all for this meeting. I gladly impart to each of you the Apostolic Blessing.
Theologian participants express
soidarity with the Pope
in this time of trial
The Italian news agencies report that during his greeting to the Holy Father in behalf of the conference participants, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, expressed the following:
"In these times which are far from easy and full of suffering for the Church and for your august person, we wish to manifest to you, Holy Father, our full solidarity, communion, support and prayer."
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 13/03/2010 01:43]