At 10:50am today, in the Consistory Hall at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the community from the Pontifical Campano di Posillipo Seminary.
Dear brother Bishops and priests,
Dear seminarians,
I meet you with joy - I always like to meet seminarians - and I greet all of you who are part of the community of the Pontifical Inter-regional Seminary, along with some of the bishops from your regions. I thank your Rector for his words and I especially greet all of you, dear seminarians, who, thank God, are so numerous.
Your Seminary is unique in the current ecclesial landscape in Italy. Founded in 1912 by the will of Saint Pius X, as was the case for several institutions established at the time, it was confided immediately to the direction of the Jesuit Fathers, who have guided it through remarkable transformations that have taken place over its more than 100-year history, all the while remaining the only Seminary in Italy that is under the direction of the Society of Jesus. In recent decades, there has been growing collaboration and interaction with the diocesan Churches which, in addition to inviting young candidates to the priesthood, have been concerned with finding suitable priests who are gifted formators. I encourage this significant and fertile path of building ecclesial communion, along which individual dioceses, along with their Pastors, are investing notable resources. An inter-diocesan formation community provides an undeniable opportunity for enrichment, in virtue of the different sensitivities and experiences that each brings and with which he is able to educate future presbyters to feel that they are part of the Church of Christ, constantly enlarging the breath of your vocational dream, with an authentic missionary spirit (cf Ratio fundamentalis institutionis sacerdotalis, 91), which does not weaken, but rather consolidates and motivates a sense of belonging to the particular Church. In these times, when everyone feels so small, perhaps incapable of facing the challenge of education, walk together, in an authentic synodal spirit, the result of a positive choice that helps us to feel supported, encouraged and enriched by one another. This exercise in communion is therefore ultimately enriched by encounter with the rich spiritual and pedagogical tradition of Saint Ignatius, who in the Spiritual Exercises provided a firmly-fixed point of reference that can inspire you along your formative journey, discovering creative fidelity to the directives of the Church's magisterium.
Dear educators, formed according to the spirituality that befits the diocesan priesthood according to the pedagogy of the Exercises of Saint Ignatius and your own mission: an ardent challenge, but at the same time exultant, who have the responsibility to point out directions for the future ministry of priests. I want to point out three aspects that seem important to me.
Teaching according to the Ignatian style means above all promoting a person's harmonious integration beginning with the centrality of the relationship of personal friendship with the Lord Jesus. This is precisely the gift of a relationship with the Lord, who calls us friends (cf Jn 15:15), which allows us to live a solid, profound spirituality but one that is not unrelated to the body. For this reason, it is important to know, to welcome and to constantly renew our own humanity. Never stop going forward, changing: you are always on a journey. In this vein, intellectual formation too does not tend to be simply a matter of learning ideas in order to become scholars - you are not in dictionaries! - but it seeks to encourage the acquisition of instruments that are more and more refined tools favouring a critical reading of reality, beginning with ourselves. You are the Christ - You are Peter (cf Mt 16:16, 18): the entire vocational journey, as it was for Simon Peter and the first disciples, is rooted in a dialogue of love and friendship, in which, while we recognize Jesus as our Master, the Lord of our lives, He gives us a new name, that is rooted in our vocation, which indicates our mission, the mission that the Father knows and entrusts to us. The discovery of our new name, the name that best defines us, our most authentic name, includes our ability to give way to various experiences that enliven our humanity. Calling things by name is the first step towards knowledge of self and therefore to knowing the will of God for our lives. Dear seminarians, do not be afraid to call things by their proper names, to look into the face of the truth of your lives and to open yourselves to the transparency and truth of others, above all that of your formators, fleeing the temptation to formalism and clericalism, which are always at the root of double lives.
And discernment is precisely the second aspect that I want to focus on. Learning to discern is not exclusively part of the Ignatian experience, but it is surely one of it's main points. The time that you spend in the seminary is a time of discernment par excellence, in which, thanks to the accompaniment of the one who, like Eli did with Samuel (cf 1 Sam 3), we help the young to recognize the voice of the Lord among the many voices that resound and sometimes echo in the ears and in the heart. But in this time, the exercise of discernment must become a true and proper educative art, so that the priest can truly be a man of discernment (cf Ratio fundamentalis, 43). Today, more tan ever - the Rector made reference to this point - the priest is called to guide the Christian people in discerning the signs of the times, knowing how to recognize the voice of God in the crowd of voices that at times can be confusing, with messages that can be contrasting one another, in our time which is characterized by a plurality of cultural and religious sensibilities. In order to be experts in the art of discernment, you need to possess above all a good familiarity with the art of listening to the Word of God, but also a growing knowledge of yourself, in the interior world of affections and powers. To become men of discernment, you also need to be courageous, to speak the truth to yourself. Discernment is a courageous choice, contrary to more comfortable and reductive ways of rigourism and laxism, as I have repeated on numerous occasions. Learning to be discerning means, in fact, fleeing the temptation to take refuge behind a rigid norm or behind the image of an idealized freedom. Learning about discernment means exposing yourself, going outside the world of our own convictions and prejudices in order to open ourselves to understanding how God is speaking to us today, in this world, in this time, in this moment, and how he speaks to me, now.
Finally, training ourselves for the priesthood according to an Ignatian style means opening ourselves constantly to the dimension of the Kingdom of God, cultivating the desire of the magi, a desire for more generosity in giving ourselves to the Lord and to our brothers, who are always there before us. For this reason, your formation year has chosen as its theme: Seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness (Mt 6:36): this will help you to enlarge the breath of your formation and to not be content merely to follow a rule, to learn a certain way of dressing; it will help you to not to be in a hurry to finish your journey, but rather to be concerned about making your human and spiritual foundations more solidly founded. Seeking the Kingdom helps us to not be content with what we have gained, to not yield to our successes, but to cultivate holy unsettledness which seeks first of all to serve the Lord in the persons of our brothers and sisters. Unsettledness enlarges the soul and makes it more capable of receiving God's love. To seek the Kingdom means refusing the logic of mediocrity and of indispensable minimums, but opening ourselves to discovering the great dreams that God has for us. Seeking the Kingdom means seeking God's justice and adopting it so that our relationships, those of our communities and our cities can be transformed into merciful love and the justice of God, who listens to the cries of the poor (cf Ps 34:7). Seeking true justice should stimulate to a call toward a growing interior freedom from goods, the recognition of this world, toward the afflicted and toward our own proper vocation.
Interior freedom from possessions: I want to focus on this. This is the first bad step! Don't forget: the devil enters through the pockets, always: then vanity follows, and then vanity and then pride ... and that's how it all ends. In fact, young men who have chosen to follow the Lord in a life of priesthood are called to cultivate a friendship with Jesus, who makes himself known in a privileged way in love for the poor, so that they become witnesses of poverty, through the simplicity and austerity of their lives ... sincere and credible promoters of true social justice (Ratio fundamentalis, 111).
Through the intercession of Mary, queen of the Apostles, the bishop Saint Alphonsus Maria de Ligouri and of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the teacher of discernment, may the Lord grant you to continue joyfully and faithfully along your path, following the luminous traditions of which you are a part. I thank you, and I ask you, please, do not forget to pray for me.
Thank you.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
addressed to the seminarians from the
Pontifical Seminary of Campano di Posillipo
Dear brother Bishops and priests,
Dear seminarians,
I meet you with joy - I always like to meet seminarians - and I greet all of you who are part of the community of the Pontifical Inter-regional Seminary, along with some of the bishops from your regions. I thank your Rector for his words and I especially greet all of you, dear seminarians, who, thank God, are so numerous.
Your Seminary is unique in the current ecclesial landscape in Italy. Founded in 1912 by the will of Saint Pius X, as was the case for several institutions established at the time, it was confided immediately to the direction of the Jesuit Fathers, who have guided it through remarkable transformations that have taken place over its more than 100-year history, all the while remaining the only Seminary in Italy that is under the direction of the Society of Jesus. In recent decades, there has been growing collaboration and interaction with the diocesan Churches which, in addition to inviting young candidates to the priesthood, have been concerned with finding suitable priests who are gifted formators. I encourage this significant and fertile path of building ecclesial communion, along which individual dioceses, along with their Pastors, are investing notable resources. An inter-diocesan formation community provides an undeniable opportunity for enrichment, in virtue of the different sensitivities and experiences that each brings and with which he is able to educate future presbyters to feel that they are part of the Church of Christ, constantly enlarging the breath of your vocational dream, with an authentic missionary spirit (cf Ratio fundamentalis institutionis sacerdotalis, 91), which does not weaken, but rather consolidates and motivates a sense of belonging to the particular Church. In these times, when everyone feels so small, perhaps incapable of facing the challenge of education, walk together, in an authentic synodal spirit, the result of a positive choice that helps us to feel supported, encouraged and enriched by one another. This exercise in communion is therefore ultimately enriched by encounter with the rich spiritual and pedagogical tradition of Saint Ignatius, who in the Spiritual Exercises provided a firmly-fixed point of reference that can inspire you along your formative journey, discovering creative fidelity to the directives of the Church's magisterium.
Dear educators, formed according to the spirituality that befits the diocesan priesthood according to the pedagogy of the Exercises of Saint Ignatius and your own mission: an ardent challenge, but at the same time exultant, who have the responsibility to point out directions for the future ministry of priests. I want to point out three aspects that seem important to me.
Teaching according to the Ignatian style means above all promoting a person's harmonious integration beginning with the centrality of the relationship of personal friendship with the Lord Jesus. This is precisely the gift of a relationship with the Lord, who calls us friends (cf Jn 15:15), which allows us to live a solid, profound spirituality but one that is not unrelated to the body. For this reason, it is important to know, to welcome and to constantly renew our own humanity. Never stop going forward, changing: you are always on a journey. In this vein, intellectual formation too does not tend to be simply a matter of learning ideas in order to become scholars - you are not in dictionaries! - but it seeks to encourage the acquisition of instruments that are more and more refined tools favouring a critical reading of reality, beginning with ourselves. You are the Christ - You are Peter (cf Mt 16:16, 18): the entire vocational journey, as it was for Simon Peter and the first disciples, is rooted in a dialogue of love and friendship, in which, while we recognize Jesus as our Master, the Lord of our lives, He gives us a new name, that is rooted in our vocation, which indicates our mission, the mission that the Father knows and entrusts to us. The discovery of our new name, the name that best defines us, our most authentic name, includes our ability to give way to various experiences that enliven our humanity. Calling things by name is the first step towards knowledge of self and therefore to knowing the will of God for our lives. Dear seminarians, do not be afraid to call things by their proper names, to look into the face of the truth of your lives and to open yourselves to the transparency and truth of others, above all that of your formators, fleeing the temptation to formalism and clericalism, which are always at the root of double lives.
And discernment is precisely the second aspect that I want to focus on. Learning to discern is not exclusively part of the Ignatian experience, but it is surely one of it's main points. The time that you spend in the seminary is a time of discernment par excellence, in which, thanks to the accompaniment of the one who, like Eli did with Samuel (cf 1 Sam 3), we help the young to recognize the voice of the Lord among the many voices that resound and sometimes echo in the ears and in the heart. But in this time, the exercise of discernment must become a true and proper educative art, so that the priest can truly be a man of discernment (cf Ratio fundamentalis, 43). Today, more tan ever - the Rector made reference to this point - the priest is called to guide the Christian people in discerning the signs of the times, knowing how to recognize the voice of God in the crowd of voices that at times can be confusing, with messages that can be contrasting one another, in our time which is characterized by a plurality of cultural and religious sensibilities. In order to be experts in the art of discernment, you need to possess above all a good familiarity with the art of listening to the Word of God, but also a growing knowledge of yourself, in the interior world of affections and powers. To become men of discernment, you also need to be courageous, to speak the truth to yourself. Discernment is a courageous choice, contrary to more comfortable and reductive ways of rigourism and laxism, as I have repeated on numerous occasions. Learning to be discerning means, in fact, fleeing the temptation to take refuge behind a rigid norm or behind the image of an idealized freedom. Learning about discernment means exposing yourself, going outside the world of our own convictions and prejudices in order to open ourselves to understanding how God is speaking to us today, in this world, in this time, in this moment, and how he speaks to me, now.
Finally, training ourselves for the priesthood according to an Ignatian style means opening ourselves constantly to the dimension of the Kingdom of God, cultivating the desire of the magi, a desire for more generosity in giving ourselves to the Lord and to our brothers, who are always there before us. For this reason, your formation year has chosen as its theme: Seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness (Mt 6:36): this will help you to enlarge the breath of your formation and to not be content merely to follow a rule, to learn a certain way of dressing; it will help you to not to be in a hurry to finish your journey, but rather to be concerned about making your human and spiritual foundations more solidly founded. Seeking the Kingdom helps us to not be content with what we have gained, to not yield to our successes, but to cultivate holy unsettledness which seeks first of all to serve the Lord in the persons of our brothers and sisters. Unsettledness enlarges the soul and makes it more capable of receiving God's love. To seek the Kingdom means refusing the logic of mediocrity and of indispensable minimums, but opening ourselves to discovering the great dreams that God has for us. Seeking the Kingdom means seeking God's justice and adopting it so that our relationships, those of our communities and our cities can be transformed into merciful love and the justice of God, who listens to the cries of the poor (cf Ps 34:7). Seeking true justice should stimulate to a call toward a growing interior freedom from goods, the recognition of this world, toward the afflicted and toward our own proper vocation.
Interior freedom from possessions: I want to focus on this. This is the first bad step! Don't forget: the devil enters through the pockets, always: then vanity follows, and then vanity and then pride ... and that's how it all ends. In fact, young men who have chosen to follow the Lord in a life of priesthood are called to cultivate a friendship with Jesus, who makes himself known in a privileged way in love for the poor, so that they become witnesses of poverty, through the simplicity and austerity of their lives ... sincere and credible promoters of true social justice (Ratio fundamentalis, 111).
Through the intercession of Mary, queen of the Apostles, the bishop Saint Alphonsus Maria de Ligouri and of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the teacher of discernment, may the Lord grant you to continue joyfully and faithfully along your path, following the luminous traditions of which you are a part. I thank you, and I ask you, please, do not forget to pray for me.
Thank you.
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