Pope:
True authority of Church of Rome is the love of Christ
(Vatican
Radio) “The true authority of the Church of Rome is the charity of Christ.”
That was the message of Pope Francis to members of the Pontifical Eccesiastical
Academy, the “Accademia” – the Roman institution responsible for preparing
priests for the diplomatic service of the Holy See.
It
is only the charity of Christ that makes the Church of Rome “universal and
credible” to human beings and to the world. This, the Pope continued, “is the
heart of its truth, which does not build walls of division and exclusion, but
makes bridges that build communion and recall the whole human race to unity;
this is its secret power, which nourishes its unshakable hope, invincible
despite momentary defeats.”
Pope
Francis told the future diplomats that the service to which they will be called
requires them to defend the liberty of the Apostolic See, which, “in order not
to betray its mission before God and for the true good of men,” must not get
caught up in factions, or “allow itself to be colonized by the popular thoughts
of the day, or by the illusory hegemony of the ‘mainstream’.”
In
a series of analogies, the Holy Father warned the students not to expect “the
ground to be ready” but to be prepared to “plow it with your hands… in order to
prepare it for the seed” in hopeful expectation of a harvest which they,
perhaps, may never see. He asked them not “to fish in aquariums or fish farms”
but to have the courage to go to the margins, to cast their “nets and fishing
poles” in lesser known areas, without getting used to “eating fish that others
have prepared.”
The
Holy Father reminded them that their mission will take them all over the world:
“To Europe, needing to be awakened; to Africa, thirsty for reconciliation; to
Latin America starving for nourishment and interiority; to North America,
intent upon rediscovering the roots of an identity that does not define itself
in terms of exclusion; in Asia and Oceania, challenged by the capacity of
fermenting in diaspora and dialogue with the vastness of ancestral culture.”
Pope
Francis assuring his audience of his prayers for them, and asked for theirs in
return. He concluded his remarks with a reminder: “Your whole life is at the
service of the Gospel and of the Church. Never forget it!”
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