2023-12-01 12:22:45
Pope Francis made this clear in his message to the gathering of seminarians in France on December 1.
C. Roubini Chinnapa9 CTC, Vatican News
In a message signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin, the Pope commended the French seminarians for their courage and generosity. He expressed his prayerful presence to each, expressing his joy at the opportunity to address them at their meeting.
The Holy Father thanked them for the special call that the Lord had given them, choosing them from many, loving them and changing them for Himself, and commended their courageous response. The Pope said that even in this difficult time that the Church and secular Western societies are going through, many young people and adults have undertaken adventures with a bold and generous spirit of faith and have responded to the Lord’s call and committed themselves to follow the Lord and serve their brothers and sisters.
The Church in France needs them and is waiting for them, so that they should be priests so spiritual and holy that they share in the authority of Christ who governs his body, the Church (Presbyterorum ordinis, n.2); Papa called them. Let it be in conformity with Christ, the head of the Church, to teach with authority, to lead safely, and to impart graces effectually through the sacraments (Presbyterorum ordinis, n. 4,5,6); Papa wished.
Christ’s sacrifice is made possible by the priest’s offering of himself and the consecration of God’s people at the altar through union with the Lord in the Holy Sacrifice, the highest offering of church life. The Pope also called on the seminarians to root their lives and identities in these fundamental truths. The Pope said that the heart of this identity lies in celibacy and indicated that the priest is the basis for being single. Papa said that the need for celibacy is essentially a yogic vision (mystical).
The Pope added that we should not be afraid of the scandals we hear regarding priests today, and that no one can change or differentiate the nature of priestly purity, but we must consider the developments of today’s society and the severe crisis in the vocation of God as we know it.
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