(Vatican Radio) A Church that is not united around its bishop is a sick Church. Jesus wanted unity between the bishop and all the faithful, starting with priests and deacons. However the role of bishop is not a position of honor, it is a service. Therefore, there is no room in the Church for a worldly mentality, for people who seek ‘ecclesiastical careers’, for bishops who instead of lowering themselves in service, are vain, proud and power-hungry.
The Ordained Ministries and in particular the role of Bishops and episcopal collegiality were the focus of Pope Francis’ General Audience catechesis this week.
The Pope began by asking those present to pray for bishops, that they may be men of virtue: “It isn’t easy” he noted “we are all sinners, so pray for us”.
He then said Christ himself instituted the ordained ministries with the purpose of building up the Church, as His Body. The Pope said among these the role of the bishop stands out because through the Bishop it is Christ himself who is present.
Moreover, in carrying out his service of protecting and guiding the people of God, the Bishop expresses the motherhood of the Church.
Moving from his scripted speech, the Pope continued “We understand, therefore, that it is not a position of prestige, an honorary role. The Bishop is not an honorary role it is a service. Jesus wanted it this way. There should not be room in the church for a worldly mentality. A worldly mentality speaks of a man who has an ‘ecclesiastical career and has become a bishop’. There should be no place for such a mentality in the Church. The Bishop serves, it is not a position of honor, to boast about”.
Pope Francis said that the many Bishops who are Saints show us that one does not seek this ministry, one does not ask for it, it cannot be bought, one accepts it in obedience, not in an attempt to climb higher but to lower oneself, just as Jesus “humbled himself and became obedient unto to death, even death on a cross”(Phil 2,8).
And he added “It is sad when we see a man who seeks this office and does all he can to get it and when he gets it does not serve, instead goes around like a peacock and lives only for his vanity”.
Pope Francis continued “The Bishops are also called to express one single college, gathered around the Pope, who is the guardian and guarantor of this profound communion that was so dear to Jesus and His apostles themselves”. Recalling the recent Synod on the Family, the Pope observed that it is beautiful when the bishops, with the Pope express this collegiality, despite “living in places, cultures, sensibilities and traditions that are different and distant from each other”.
Concluding the Pope said we must recognize our Bishop as a great gift “in the knowledge that it is in the Bishop that the relationship of each Church with the Apostles is visible and with all the other communities, united with their bishops and the Pope in the One Church of the Lord Jesus, that is our Holy Mother the Hierarchical Church”.
Below please find a Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Father’s General Audience
Our Holy Mother the Hierarchical Church
Dear Brothers and Sisters Good day,
We heard the things that the Apostle Paul says to the Bishop Titus, how many virtues we bishops must have, we all heard no? And it’s not easy, it’s not easy because we are sinners. But we entrust ourselves to your prayers so that we can at least hope to be closer to the things that the Apostle Paul advises for all Bishops. Do you agree? Will you pray for us?
We have already had occasion to point out, in the previous reflections, how the Holy Spirit has always filled the Church with an abundance of gifts. Now, in the power and grace of his Spirit, Christ does not fail to give rise to the ordained ministries, in order to build up the Christian community as His body. Among these ministries, that of the bishop stands out. In the Bishop, assisted by priests and deacons, it is Christ himself who is present and who continues to take care of his Church, ensuring his protection and guidance.
In the presence and ministry of bishops, priests and deacons, we can recognize the true face of the Church: she is our Holy Mother the Hierarchical Church. And really, through these brothers chosen by the Lord and consecrated by the sacrament of Holy Orders, the Church exercises her motherhood: she generates us in Baptism as Christians, when we are born again in Christ; she watches over our growth in the faith; she accompanies us into the arms of the Father, to receive His forgiveness; she prepares us for the Eucharistic table, where she nourishes us with the Word of God and the Body and Blood of Jesus; she calls upon us the blessing of God and the power of His Spirit, sustaining us throughout the course of our life and envelops us with her tenderness and warmth, especially in the most delicate moments of trial, suffering and death.
The Church’s motherhood is particularly expressed in particular in the person of the bishop and in his ministry. In fact, as Jesus chose the Apostles and sent them out to preach the Gospel and shepherd his flock, so the bishops, their successors, are placed at the head of the Christian community, as guarantor of their faith and as a living sign of the presence of the Lord among them. We understand, therefore, that it is not a position of prestige, an honorary role. The Bishop is not an honorary role it is a service. Jesus wanted it this way. There should not be room in the church for a worldly mentality. A worldly mentality speaks of a man who has an ‘ecclesiastical career and has become a bishop’. There should be no place for such a mentality in the Church. The Bishop serves, it is not a position of honor, to boast about. Being Bishop means keeping ever present the example of Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, came not to be served but to serve (cf. Mt 20:28; Mk 10:45), and to give His life for His sheep (cf. Jn 10:11). The Bishops who are Saints – and there are many in the history of the Church – show us that one does not seek this ministry, one does not ask for it, it cannot be bought, one accepts it in obedience, not in an attempt to climb higher but to lower oneself, just as Jesus “humbled himself and became obedient unto to death, even death on a cross”(Phil 2,8).
It is sad when we see a man who seeks this office and does all he can to get it and when he gets it does not serve, instead goes around like a peacock and lives only for his vanity.
There is another precious element that deserves to be highlighted. When Jesus chose and called the Apostles, he thought of them not as separate one from another, each on their own, but together, that they might be with Him, united as one family. The Bishops too are a single college, gathered around the Pope, who is the guardian and guarantor of this profound communion that was so dear to Jesus and His apostles themselves. How beautiful it is, then, when the bishops, with the Pope express this collegiality! And try to be the servants of the faithful, the servants of the Church! We recently experienced this in the Assembly of the Synod on the Family. Just think of all the Bishops throughout the world who, despite living in places, cultures, sensibilities and traditions that are different and distant from each other, – One bishop the other day told me that to come to Rome it took a flight of 30 hours – even distant from each other, when bishops feel part of each other and become an expression of the intimate bond, in Christ, in their communities . And in the common ecclesial prayer all Bishops together listen to the Lord and the Spirit, thus being able to pay greater attention to man and the signs of the times (cf. Conc. Ecumenical Council. Vat. II, Const. Gaudium et Spes, 4 ).
Dear friends, all of this makes us understand why the Christian communities recognize the Bishop as a great gift, and are called to nurture a sincere and profound communion with him, starting with the priests and deacons. There is no healthy Church if the faithful priests, deacons are not united around their bishop. This Church not united around their bishop is a sick Church. Jesus wanted this union, of all faithful with the Bishop. The priests and deacons too. And this in the knowledge that it is in the Bishop that the relationship of each Church with the Apostles is visible and with all the other communities, united with their bishops and the Pope in the One Church of the Lord Jesus, that is our Holy Mother the Hierarchical Church.
(from Vatican Radio)…
What is the impact of digital communication on thinking and
living the faith? Can the virtual encounter be communication and an
opportunity for an authentic encounter? And how can Christian witness be
expressed in the digital universe? These are some of the questions
which the bishops with responsibility for social communications in
Europe’s Bishops’ Conferences, accompanied by their experts, will tackle
in Athens in the light of Pope Francis’ Message for the 2014 World
Communications Day.
The meeting, promoted by CCEE’s Commission for Social Communications, chaired by His Lordship Mgr José Ignacio Munilla Aguirre ,
Bishop of San Sebastian (Spain), will also be attended by the President
of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, His Grace Mgr Claudio Celli .
In Athens, the 30 participants will be helped in their reflections by experts in the field of social communications, such as Fr Antonio Spadaro SJ , director of the journal “La Civiltà Cattolica”; Prof. Arturo Merayo Perez , lecturer at the Faculty of Communication Sciences at the University of Murcia (Spain); and Fr Roderick Vonhögen , founder of Star Quest Production Network and Trideo TV (Holland).
The meeting will also include a presentation about the work in the field
of social communications undertaken by the Media Office of the Greek
Bishops’ Conference, given by its director, Sebastianos Roussos .
On Wednesday 5 November, the participants will visit Corinth. During the
trip, the Apostolic Exarch for Byzantine Rite Catholics in Greece, His
Grace Mgr Dimitrios Salachas , will offer a reflection on The communication of Saint Paul from the Areopagus to Corinth.
In the course of the meeting there will also be interventions from the new Archbishop of Athens, His Grace Mgr Sebastianos Rossolatos , and the Apostolic Nuncio to Greece, His Grace Mgr Edward Joseph Adams .
The meeting is not open to the public. The complete programme is available at the CCEE website ( www.ccee.eu ) along with a thematic introduction to the meeting….
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has written to the bishops of France as they begin their Autumn Plenary Session gathered in the Sanctuary in Our Lady of Lourdes .
In the message written by Vatican Secretary of State, Card. Pietro Parolin on the Holy Father’s behalf, the Pope praises the solidarity that the bishops have shown with the suffering Church in the Middle East and he calls them to always be a Church with its “doors wide open” for people and their life’s difficulties.
Below a Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Father’s message to the French Bishops’ Conference
While Lourdes is at the Plenary Assembly of the Bishops’ Conference of France, His Holiness Pope Francis wants to show you his spiritual closeness, asking the Lord, through the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes, that your work may help to keep alive the missionary zeal of your Dioceses so that they may announce the joy of the Gospel in your country. This assembly takes place in a particular context, as it will be followed by the gathering of seminarians from France and the General Assembly of the religious of France. The Holy Father urges that these events, a prelude to the opening of the Year for Consecrated Life, be a source of comfort and hope for you, the pastors of the Church, but also for all the people of God. The different themes that you have chosen for this session reflect your concern to build a church “with doors wide open,” where there is room for everyone with their life’s difficulties. The Spirit of the Lord leads us to open new paths so that the Word of Life can be offered to all. The Holy Father encourages you on the road, difficult and yet so exhilarating, in communicating the love we have received to others. He particularly invites you to persevere in your generous efforts to show your fellowship and that of your diocesan churches with Christians in the Middle East who are sorely tried as well as people suffering in various parts of the world.
Entrusting all the Bishops of France, their collaborators and their dioceses to the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette, Pope Francis cordially imparts his Apostolic Blessing upon you all.
By sending this message with joy of the Holy Father, I assure you of my prayers for the fraternal success of your work.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Vatican City, 4 November 2014 (VIS) – Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Holy See Permanent Observer at the United Nations in New York, spoke at the 69th Session of the General Assembly held on 23 October, regarding the “Eradication of Poverty”. Speaking in English, the nuncio expressed the Holy See delegation’s belief that “countries should develop evidence-based policies and strategies to combat extreme poverty, rather than relying on pre-conceived one-size-fits-all solutions. Analyses and suggested solutions need to be based on on-the-ground expertise and lived experience, rather than on imposed ready-made solutions from the outside, which are not always devoid of ideological colourings”. He also remarked that sustainable development “requires the participation of all in the life of families, communities, organisations and societies. Participation is the antidote to exclusion, be it social, political, economic or cultural”. Another barrier to sustainable development, he noted, is “the exclusion of women from equal and active participation in the development of their communities. Excluding women and girls from education and subjecting them to violence and discrimination violates their inherent dignity and fundamental human rights”. “My delegation wishes to highlight that poverty is not mere exclusion from economic development; it is as multifaceted and multidimensional as the human person. … Other than its more obvious economic expression, poverty also manifests itself in the educational, social, political, cultural and spiritual dimensions of life. … Development is more than the sum total of resources invested into development projects and their measurable material results. … In our efforts to eradicate poverty, we must always return to the foundational principle of our efforts, namely to promote the authentic development of the whole person and of all peoples. Each of us needs to contribute. Each of us can benefit. This is solidarity”….
(Vatican Radio) At Mass in Casa Santa Marta on Tuesday morning Pope Francis noted that deep down people are afraid of God’s gratuity, we find excuses not to go to Him and end up thinking the world revolves around us.
The Pope based his homily on the parable recounted in the Gospel of the Day of the man who gave a great banquet to which he invited many. The Pope said that this parable makes us think, because “we all like being invited to dinners”. But there was something about this dinner that three guests did not like, and these guests are an example of many of us.
One says that he has to go and examine his field, he needs to see it in order to feel “powerful, vanity, pride and he prefers this to sitting at table among others”. Another guest had just bought five oxen and thus is taken up with his business and doesn’t want to waste time with other people. The last guest excuses himself saying that he is married and doesn’t want to bring his bride to the dinner. He wanted to keep her affection all to himself: selfishness”.
Pope Francis noted: “In the end prefer their own interests rather than sharing dinner together: They do not know what it means to celebrate”. This form of self-interest is what Jesus described as “repayment”.
“If the invitation had been for example: ‘Come, I have two or three business friends from a foreign country, we can do something together’, no one would have excused themselves. But what shocked them was the gratuity. Being one among the others, there…this form of egoism of being at the centre of everything..It is so difficult to listen to the voice of Jesus, the voice of God, when you believe that that the whole world revolves around you: there is no horizon, because you become your own horizon. And there is more behind all of this, something far deeper: fear of gratuity. We are afraid of God’s gratuity. He is so great that we fear Him”.
This, he said, “is because quite often our life experiences have made us suffer”, like the disciples of Emmaus who turn away from Jerusalem or Thomas who wants to touch to believe. The Pope then used a popular proverb: When “the offer is so great even the Saint is suspicious”, because “the gratuity is too much”. And when God gives us a feast like this,” he said, we think it is “better not to get involved”.
” We feel safer in our sins, in our limitations, but feel at home; leaving our home to answer God’s invitation, go to God’s house, with others? No. I’m afraid. And all of us Christians have this fear hidden deep inside … but not too hidden. Catholics, but not too Catholic. Trusting in the Lord, but not too much. This ‘but not too’, marks our lives, it belittles us “.
Pope Francis continued “One thing that makes me think is that when the servant reported this to his master, the master is angry because he had been despised. He sends his servant to call the poor, the crippled, he sends him to the squares and the streets of the city. The Lord asks the servant to compel people to come to the dinner. “So often the Lord has to do with us the same: with trials, so many trials”:
” Compel them, for here is the celebration. Gratuity. Compel that heart, that soul to believe in God’s gratuity, that God’s gift is free, that salvation cannot be bought: it is a great gift, the love of God … is the greatest gift! This is gratuity. But we are a little afraid and this is why we think that we can obtain holiness with our own things and we become a little Pelagian eh! Holiness, salvation is gratuity”.
Pope Francis concluded: Jesus “paid for the banquet, with His humiliation unto death, death on a cross. And this is the great gratuity. When we look at the crucifix, we should think of it as an invitation to the banquet. Yes, Lord, I am a sinner, I have many things, but I look at you and go to the banquet of the Father. I trust. I will not be disappointed, because you have paid for everything. Today, the Church asks us not to be afraid of the gratuitousness of God”. “Instead we must open our hearts, do our part as much as we can, because He will prepare the banquet”.
(from Vatican Radio)…