(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday met with the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, who subsequently met with the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States.
A statement released by the Holy See Press Office said the parties reaffirmed the good relations between the Holy See and Ukraine, and called the discussions “cordial,” stating they were dedicated principally to matters connected with the situation of conflict in the country.
In this respect the hope was shared that, with the commitment of all the interested Parties, political solutions may be favoured, starting with the full implementation of the Minsk Accords. At the same time, concern was expressed regarding the difficulties of facing the humanitarian crisis, with particular reference to access for specialised organisations to areas affected by hostilities, to healthcare, to the exchange of prisoners, and the economic and social repercussions of the conflict, experienced throughout the territory.
The meeting provided an opportunity to highlight the important role of the Church in society, as well as the contribution of the Greek Catholic and Latin rite communities to the life of the country.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday said a good priest “creates serenity,” and a priest “that is often sad, nervous, or has a hard character” is not good for himself or his people.
The Holy Father was addressing a Conference sponsored by the Congregation for the Clergy marking the fiftieth anniversary of the proclamation of the Vatican II decrees Presbyterorum ordinis [Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests] and Optatam Totius [Decree on Priestly Training].
Pope Francis focused on three brief phrases found in a passage of Presbyterorum ordinis, stating that priests are “taken from among men,” “ordained for men,” and “live in the midst of other men.”
“Even priests have a biography, and are not ‘mushrooms’ which sprout up suddenly at the Cathedral on their day of ordination,” said the Holy Father. “It is important for formators and the priests themselves to remember this, and know how to take this personal history into account along the formation path.”
The Pope added the “fundamental place” of the human formation of the priesthood is the family, which Is the “centre of pastoral work” and can do much to foster vocations
“A good priest is first of all a man with his own humanity, who knows his own history – with its treasures and wounds – and has learned to make peace with it, gaining a profound serenity, characteristic of a disciple of the Lord,” he said. “Human formation is therefore needed for priests, so they may learn not to be dominated by their limits, but rather to put their talents to use.”
The Pope said a priest is “a man of peace” who surrounds himself with serenity, even during hardships.
“It is not normal for a priest to be often sad, nervous, or of a hard character; it is not good, and does no good, neither for the priest nor for his people,” he said.
Pope Francis said “our humanity is the ‘clay pot’ in which we guard the treasure of God,” and so care must be taken to protect it.
Moving to the second point, the Holy Father reminded priests they are called “to serve our brothers and sisters.”
“We are not priests for our own sake, and our sanctification is closely linked to that of our people, our anointing to their anointing,” he said, adding priests should be “authoritative, not authoritarian; firm, but not hard; joyful, but not superficial…in short, shepherds, not functionaries.”
Finally, turning to the third point, Pope Francis said priests must remain with their people, and not treat the priesthood “like a job one does, and afterwards lives a life apart.”
“The good that priests can do comes primarily from their proximity to – and a tender love for – their people,” he said. “They are not philanthropists or functionaries, but fathers and brothers.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said that the Church must not be obsessed by money or power, nor worship “holy bribes”. Instead her strength and joy should come from the words of Christ. He was speaking at the morning mass at Casa Santa Marta on Friday.
The Holy Father reflected on the reading from Maccabees, which tells of the people’s joy following the reconsecration of the Holy Temple, which had been destroyed by pagans and those obsessed by worldliness. The people of God celebrated, they rejoiced because they had rekindled “their true identity”. The Pope explained that “those who indulge in worldliness do not know how to celebrate – they can’t celebrate! At most, the worldly spirit can provide amusement, it can provoke excitement, but true joy can only come from faith in the Covenant”. In the Gospel, Jesus drives merchants away from the Temple saying “It is written: my house shall be called the house of prayer. But you have made it a den of thieves”. Pope Francis noted that at the time of the Maccabees, worldly desire “displaced the Living God”. But now, it is happening “in another way altogether”.
“The Gospel says the chief priests and scribes had changed things. They had dishonored and compromised the Temple. They had dishonored the Temple! The Temple was a symbol of the Church. The Church will always – always! – be subject to the temptation of worldliness and power. Jesus did not say ‘No, do not do this inside. Go outside instead.’ He said ‘You have made it a den of thieves!’ And when the Church enters into such a state of decline, the end is bad. Very bad indeed.”
The danger of corruption
“There is always a danger of corruption within the Church. This happens when the Church, instead of being devoted to faith in Our Lord, in the Prince of Peace, in joy, in salvation, becomes dominated by money and power. This is exactly what happens here, in this Gospel reading. These priests, chief priests and scribes were driven by money, power and they ignored the Holy Spirit. And in order to be able to justify their actions, they poisoned the free spirit of the Lord with hypocrisy. In Matthew 23, Jesus speaks of their hypocrisy. These were people who had lost their sense of Godliness, and even the ability to rejoice, to praise God. They did not know how to worship the Lord because they were too distracted by money and power, and by a form of worldiness”.
The scribes and priests are furious with Jesus
“‘Jesus did not chase the priests and scribes away from the Temple; he chased away those who were doing business there, the businessmen of the Temple. The chief priests and scribes were involved in their dealings: this is ‘holy bribery’! The Gospel is very clear. It says “The chief priests and scribes wanted to kill Jesus, along with the elders of the people’. The same thing happened under the rule of Judas Maccabeus. Why? Because ‘they did not know what they were doing, since everyone hung on his every word’. Jesus’ strength is to be found in his words, in his love. And where Jesus is, there is no room for worldliness. There is no room for corruption! This is a challenge for each and every one of us; this is the struggle the Church has to face every day. We must always heed Jesus’ words; we must never seek comfort from another master. Jesus told us that we cannot serve two masters. God or riches; God or power”.
The Pope concluded saying “We ought to pray for the Church. We must hold in our hearts today’s martyrs, who suffer and die, so as not to be ensnared by worldly desires, by obsession, by apostasy. Today! Today, there are more martyrs of the Church than there ever were before. Let’s think about that. It does us good to think about them. And also to pray that we may never fall into the trap of worldliness, where we will be obsessed only by money and power”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday told the bishops of Germany the upcoming Jubilee of Mercy offers the opportunity to “rediscover the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist.”
The bishops were meeting with the Holy Father during their ad limina visit to Rome.
In a speech handed to the bishops at the meeting, Pope Francis noted a sharp decline in sacramental participation among the Catholics in Germany.
“Whereas in the 1960’s the faithful almost everywhere attended Mass every Sunday, today it is often less than 10 percent,” he said.
“The Sacraments are always approached less often,” the Pope continued.
“The Sacrament of Penance is often missing. Fewer and fewer Catholics receive the Sacrament of Confirmation or contract a Catholic marriage,” he continued. “The number of vocations to the ministerial priesthood and to the consecrated life has significantly diminished. Given these facts, one can truly speak of an erosion of the Catholic faith in Germany.”
Pope Francis said the solution to the crisis depends upon overcoming “paralyzing resignation,” and cannot be based upon an attempt to “rebuild from the wrecks of ‘the good old days’ in the past,” but it can be inspired by the life of the early Christians.
He turned the bishops attention to the biblical figures of Priscilla and Aquila, the married couple who witnessed with their words and lives to the love of Christ.
“The example of these ‘volunteers’ can help us reflect, given the trend towards a growing institutionalization,” Pope Francis said.
“We always inaugurate new facilities, from which, in the end, the faithful are missing,” Pope Francis said.
“It is a sort of new Pelagianism, which puts its trust in administrative structures, in perfect organizations” – the Pope continued – “excessive centralization, rather than helping, complicates the life of the Church and her missionary dynamics.”
He told the bishops to give more attention to Confession during the Jubilee of Mercy, since “in Confession is the beginning of the transformation of each individual Christian and the reform of the Church.”
“It is also necessary to highlight the intimate connection between the Eucharist and the priesthood,” the Holy Father said.
“The precious collaboration of the laity, especially in those places where vocations are missing, cannot become a surrogate for the ministerial priesthood, or give it the semblance of being simply optional,” he said. “If there is no priest, there is no Eucharist.”
The Pope also said a task of the Bishop which is always underappreciated is the commitment to life.
“The Church must never get tired of being the advocate of life, and should never step back from proclaiming that human life must be protected unconditionally from conception to natural death,” he said.
He said any compromise on this issue makes one guilty of being part of a “throwaway culture,” noting the wounds caused in society due to the suffering of the weakest and most defenseless: The unborn, the elderly, and the sick.
“All of us in the end will suffer the painful consequences,” he said.
Pope Francis also spoke about the refugee crisis affecting Europe, and thanked the Churches and individual citizens who have offered their help in accommodating those “seeking refuge from war and persecution” with their assistance, on both a material and human level.
“In the spirit of Christ, we must continue to meet the challenge of the great number of people in need,” he said. “At the same time, we support all humanitarian initiatives to ensure that the living conditions in the countries of origin become more bearable.”
(from Vatican Radio)…