Pope in Bologna - meeting with priests and religious
(Vatican Radio) During his daylong visit on Sunday to
Bologna in northern Italy, Pope Francis met priests, religious, seminarians and
deacons in the city cathedral. He did not deliver a discourse but
fielded two questions from them.
Priestly brotherhood
The diocesan priests asked the Pope how they could grow in
evangelical brotherhood with their fellow priests. The Pope said
they first need to have the sense of what he described as ‘diocesanità’
(Italian) or a sense of belonging to the body of priests along with their
bishop. When a diocesan priest lacks this he becomes a loner and runs the
risk of becoming ‘infertile’. In this regard, the Pope recalled the
transparency of St. Paul who talked about things clearly without misleading
and had the patience and tolerance for others.
Another trait of a diocesan priest is the figure of pastor
among his people. Opposed to this, is the ‘clerical pastor’
like the Pharisees and Saducees of Jesus’time who live in their own world of
theology, thoughts and dos and donts of the law. The Pope regretted
that some priests transform their service into a syndicate office with rigid
visiting hours.
Careerism and gossip
To help deepen their brotherhood with their fellow priests,
Pope Francis particularly urged the diocesan priests to keep clear of two vices
– careerism and gossip. He described priests who make a career of
their priestly service a career, as ‘climbers’. He described gossip
mongers as pests who create discord in the diocesan presbyterial community,
defaming their brother priests.
Poverty
The Pope also received a question from religious men and
women asking him how to live the religious life with joy and hope without
falling into the trap of the ‘psychology of survival’.
The Pope said that the this pessimistic syndrome seeks security in
money, contrary to the spirit of poverty. Religious life, the
Pope said, gets corrupt through money, and added that security in religious
life does not come from vocations or money but from the ‘other
side’. Poverty, according to St. Ignatius of Loyola, is a mother that
gives life, and a wall that defends us from worldliness, the Pope
said. The Holy Father also told the religious of the need to touch
the wounds of Christ in the suffering body of His
people.
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