Pope Francis opens CEI General Assembly
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis
presided over the opening of the 69th General Assembly of the Italian Bishops’
Conference – the “CEI” – on Monday afternoon, in the Synod Hall in the Vatican.
The main item on the agenda
of the 69th CEI General Assembly is the renewal of the clergy
through ongoing formation.
In remarks to the
participants prepared for the occasion, the Holy Father encouraged the bishops
of Italy to listen to their priests and to learn from their example. “This
evening,” said Pope Francis, “I do not wish to offer you a systematic
reflection on the figure of the priest: let us rather try to turn the
perspective on its head, and make ready to listen. Let us approach – almost in
tiptoe – one of the many parish priests who spend themselves in our
communities, let us leave his visage to pass before the eyes of our heart, and
let us ask with simplicity: what gives life its flavor? For whom and
for what does he do such dedicated service? What is the ultimare reason for his
self-giving?”
The answers Pope Francis
articulated included the cultivation of authentic friendship with God, a
recovery of the courageous leadership role that priests – especially diocesan
clergy – are called to play in the fundamental missionary activity of the whole
Church, which must be at the center of every Christian life, and finally the
Kingdom of God as the horizon and goal of the whole work of the Church and of
each man called to serve as a priest.
Other topics on the Bishops’
agenda include the recent revision of the rules on ecclesiastical tribunals
(with the reform Pope Francis introduced between the Synod Assemblies),
questions of economic resource management, and some other legal and administrative
business.
A press conference is
scheduled for 1:30 PM on Thursday to present the work of the General Assembly.
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