At noon yesterday in the Sala Clementina at the Vatican, the Holy Father, Pope Francis met with bishops who have been appointed over the past year. Every year, the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for Oriental Churches organizes a meeting of newly-appointed bishops, and each year while they are there, the group of bishops are received in audience by the Holy Father.
Dear brothers,
I am pleased to personally meet with you at this moment, because truly I must say that in some ways we already know each other. Not too long ago, you were presented to me either by the Congregation for Bishops or by the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. Your appointments were the fruit of assiduous work and the constant prayer of the Church which, when she must choose her pastors, wishes to bring to fruition the fruit of the night which was spent by the Lord on the mountain, in the presence of his Father, prior to calling those who he wanted to stay with Him and to be sent into the world.
I thank Cardinals Ouellet and Sandri as well as all those who have contributed with them to the preparation of your choice as bishop and who have assisted with the organization of these days of encounter, days which I am sure have borne fruit, days during which you have experienced the joy of knowing that you are not alone but that you are part of a community of bishops. This experience has helped you to be more aware of the shared responsibility of the episcopal ministry and the solicitude that we all have for the entire Church of God.
I am aware of the programme for your encounter and I have great hopes for what you will accomplish. Now I can finally put faces to the names that I first read on cards, and after having heard so much about you, I can now personally listen to each of your hearts and fix my gaze upon each of you in order to discern the many pastoral hopes which Christ and his Church recognize in you. It's good to see reflected in your faces the mystery that lies within each of you and to be able to read there that which Christ has written. It is comforting to see that God does not leave the Church he has chosen as his bride without pastors formed after his own heart.
Dear brothers, our meeting today takes place at the beginning of your episcopal journey. The initial astonishment of your choice as a bishop has already passed; the initial fears when your name was first pronounced by the Lord have by now dissipated and the emotions experienced on the day of your consecration will eventually form a part of the deposit of your memory while you adapt in some senses to the weight of the responsibility, even despite the fragility that you now experience. The oil of the Spirit which was poured over your head still perfumes the air; at the same time it descends over the body of the Churches which the Lord has confided to your care. You have already experienced the fact that the gospel, held open over your head has become a house where you can live with the Word of God; and the ring placed upon your right hand, which is sometimes too tight-fitting while at other times seems so loose that it might slip off, has the power to conform your life more and more to Christ and to his Spouse.
Meeting you for the first time today, I ask you never to take for granted the mystery with which you have been invested, to never lose either the sense of wonder in the face of God's plan or the timidity to walk in conscience in His presence and in the presence of the Church which primarily belongs to Him. In some place within you, you must keep this gift which you have received, doing everything you can to prevent it from becoming tattered, preventing it from being in vain.
Now let us speak in simple terms about a few themes which I hold in my heart. I feel the need to remind the pastors of Churches about the inseparable bond between the stable presence of the bishop and the growth of the flock. Every authentic reform of the Church of Christ begins with presence, the presence of Christ which never fails but also with the presence of the pastor who governs in the name of Christ. This is not merely a pious recommendation. When a pastor is absent or cannot be found, pastoral care and the salvation of souls are at stake (Council of Trent, Decree De reformatione, IX). The Council of Trent was right to point this out.
In fact, in the pastors which Christ provides for his Church, He himself demonstrates his love for His bride by giving his life for her (cf Eph 5:25-27). Love makes everything it encounters more like those who share it; for this reason all that is beautiful in the Church comes from Christ, but it is also true that the glorified humanity of the spouse is never overshadows our own gifts. They say that after years of intense communion of life and faithfulness, even among human couples, some physiological traits are gradually shared and the two often end up resembling one another.
You have been entrusted with a ring of faithfulness to the Church which has been entrusted to you, or which you are now called to serve. Love for the spouse of Christ will gradually allow you to leave an imprint of yourselves on her face and at the same time to bear within yourselves some of her traits. Therefore, serve with intimacy, diligence, perseverance and patience.
We have no need of bishops who merely appear to be happy: you need to dig deeply in order to discover how the Spirit continues to inspire your bride. Please, don't be bishops with fixed schedules, who always need to change their addresses, like medicine that loses its ability to heal or like bland food that must be thrown away because it has lost its taste (cf Mt 5:13). It is important never to impede the healing power that flows from deep within the gift which you have received; it will protect you from the temptation to come and go without having a clearly defined goal, because no wind is favorable to those who do not know where they are going. And we have already learned where we are headed: we must always go to Jesus. We are always seeking to know where he lives, because he never changes the response he gave to the first disciples who asked the question: Come and see (Jn 1:38-39).
In order to fully live within your Churches, you need to always live in Him and never run away from Him: live in his word, in his Eucharist, about the Father's business (cf Lk 2:49), and above all in his cross. Do not stop the journey, but prolong the stay! Just as the inextinguishable sanctuary lamps in your magnificent cathedrals or your humble chapels continue to burn, so, your concern for the flock should never tire of measuring up to the flame of the Risen Christ. Therefore, strive never to be exhausted or pessimistic bishops who, relying only on yourselves and surrendering to the darkness of the world or resigned to the apparent conflicts that fight against good, cry out in vain that the fort is being attacked. Your vocation is not to be guardians of a failed enterprise, but custodians of the joy of the gospel, therefore you can never be deprived of the only treasure that we have to give and which the world cannot give to herself: the joy and the love of God.
I pray that you will never allow yourselves to be disillusioned by the temptation to change people. Love the people that the Lord has given you, even when they may have committed grave sins, never growing tired of looking to the Lord, in order to obtain forgiveness and a new beginning, even at the price of losing many of your false images of the divine face or the fantasies that have been created about how we should maintain communion with God (cf Ez 32:30-31). Learn the humble but irresistible power of vicarious substitution which is the only root of redemption.
Even the mission, which has become so urgent, is born out of the same seeing where the Lord lives and remaining with him (cf. Jn 1:39). Only those who encounter him, those who remain and live with him are able to capture the charm and authority to lead the world to Christ (cf Jn 1:40-42). I think of the many people who can be taken to him: about your priests first of all. There are many who no longer seek to discover where He lives, or who live at other existential levels, even a few at the lowest levels of existence - at the true peripheries. Others forget about ecclesial paternity or perhaps even grow tired of seeking in vain; now they live as though there were no more fathers or according to the illusion of not having any need of their fathers. I exhort you to cultivate within yourselves, fathers and pastors, an interior sense in which you may always find space for your priests: receiving them, welcoming them, listening to them, guiding them. I would long for bishops who are not so much known for their presence in the media as for their interior space which offers the possibility to encounter other persons, discovering their concrete needs, providing them with the interest and the wholeness of the teaching of the Church, and not just a catalogue of regrets. Such a welcome should be for all people without discrimination, offering the confidence of authority which makes it possible for belief to grow and the sweetness of creative paternity. And please don't fall into the temptation of sacrificing your freedom by cutting the cords short, seeking agreement or choruses of consensus, since on the lips of the Bishop, the Church and the world have the rite to always discover the gospel which makes us free.
Then there are the People of God who have been confided to your care. When, at the moment of your consecration, the name of your Church was proclaimed, the faces of those who God was giving you were vibrant. This people needs your patience to care for them, to help them to grow. I am well aware that we live in difficult times. Serve, and imitate the patience of Moses in order to guide your people, not with a fear of dying as exiles, but spending your energy, all your energy, not for your own sakes but in order to bring those you guide to God. Nothing is more important than to bring people to God! I especially encourage you to be mindful of the young and the elderly. First because they are our allies and second because they are our roots. Allies and roots without which we do not know either where we have come from or where we are headed.
At the conclusion of our meeting, allow the Successor of Peter to look deeply within, from the heights of the mystery that irrevocably unites us. Today, seeing your various faces, which reflect the inexhaustible riches of the Church spread throughout the earth, the Bishop of Rome embraces all that is Catholic. It is not necessary to recall every individual dramatic situation of our days. How I wish that through you, in every Church, a message of encouragement might be heard. Returning homes, wherever they may be, please bring with you an affectionate greeting from the Pope and reassure the people that they are always in his heart.
I see in you the watchmen capable of awakening your Churches, rising up before dawn or in the middle of the night to reawaken faith, hope and charity, without letting yourselves doze off or be conformed with the nostalgic lament of a fecund past but now fading. Dig now into your sources, with the courage to remove the incrustations that have covered the beauty and vigor of your pilgrim and missionary ancestors who implanted Churches and created civilization.
I see in you men capable of cultivating and maturing God’s fields, in which young sowers await hands ready to water daily to expect generous harvests.
I see in you, finally, Pastors able to recompose unity, of weaving nets, of re-sewing, of overcoming fragmentation. Dialogue with respect with the great traditions in which you are immersed, without fear of getting lost or without need to defend your borders, because the identity of the Church is defined by the love of Christ that knows no borders. Guarding jealously the passion for truth, do not waste energies to oppose or collide but to build and to love.
So, watchmen, men capable of taking care of God’s fields, pastors who walk ahead, in the midst and behind the flock, I give you leave, I embrace you, wishing you fecundity, patience, humility and much prayer. Thank you.
Greetings of His Holiness, Pope Francis
for the meeting with newly-appointed bishops
Dear brothers,
I am pleased to personally meet with you at this moment, because truly I must say that in some ways we already know each other. Not too long ago, you were presented to me either by the Congregation for Bishops or by the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. Your appointments were the fruit of assiduous work and the constant prayer of the Church which, when she must choose her pastors, wishes to bring to fruition the fruit of the night which was spent by the Lord on the mountain, in the presence of his Father, prior to calling those who he wanted to stay with Him and to be sent into the world.
I thank Cardinals Ouellet and Sandri as well as all those who have contributed with them to the preparation of your choice as bishop and who have assisted with the organization of these days of encounter, days which I am sure have borne fruit, days during which you have experienced the joy of knowing that you are not alone but that you are part of a community of bishops. This experience has helped you to be more aware of the shared responsibility of the episcopal ministry and the solicitude that we all have for the entire Church of God.
I am aware of the programme for your encounter and I have great hopes for what you will accomplish. Now I can finally put faces to the names that I first read on cards, and after having heard so much about you, I can now personally listen to each of your hearts and fix my gaze upon each of you in order to discern the many pastoral hopes which Christ and his Church recognize in you. It's good to see reflected in your faces the mystery that lies within each of you and to be able to read there that which Christ has written. It is comforting to see that God does not leave the Church he has chosen as his bride without pastors formed after his own heart.
Dear brothers, our meeting today takes place at the beginning of your episcopal journey. The initial astonishment of your choice as a bishop has already passed; the initial fears when your name was first pronounced by the Lord have by now dissipated and the emotions experienced on the day of your consecration will eventually form a part of the deposit of your memory while you adapt in some senses to the weight of the responsibility, even despite the fragility that you now experience. The oil of the Spirit which was poured over your head still perfumes the air; at the same time it descends over the body of the Churches which the Lord has confided to your care. You have already experienced the fact that the gospel, held open over your head has become a house where you can live with the Word of God; and the ring placed upon your right hand, which is sometimes too tight-fitting while at other times seems so loose that it might slip off, has the power to conform your life more and more to Christ and to his Spouse.
Meeting you for the first time today, I ask you never to take for granted the mystery with which you have been invested, to never lose either the sense of wonder in the face of God's plan or the timidity to walk in conscience in His presence and in the presence of the Church which primarily belongs to Him. In some place within you, you must keep this gift which you have received, doing everything you can to prevent it from becoming tattered, preventing it from being in vain.
Now let us speak in simple terms about a few themes which I hold in my heart. I feel the need to remind the pastors of Churches about the inseparable bond between the stable presence of the bishop and the growth of the flock. Every authentic reform of the Church of Christ begins with presence, the presence of Christ which never fails but also with the presence of the pastor who governs in the name of Christ. This is not merely a pious recommendation. When a pastor is absent or cannot be found, pastoral care and the salvation of souls are at stake (Council of Trent, Decree De reformatione, IX). The Council of Trent was right to point this out.
In fact, in the pastors which Christ provides for his Church, He himself demonstrates his love for His bride by giving his life for her (cf Eph 5:25-27). Love makes everything it encounters more like those who share it; for this reason all that is beautiful in the Church comes from Christ, but it is also true that the glorified humanity of the spouse is never overshadows our own gifts. They say that after years of intense communion of life and faithfulness, even among human couples, some physiological traits are gradually shared and the two often end up resembling one another.
You have been entrusted with a ring of faithfulness to the Church which has been entrusted to you, or which you are now called to serve. Love for the spouse of Christ will gradually allow you to leave an imprint of yourselves on her face and at the same time to bear within yourselves some of her traits. Therefore, serve with intimacy, diligence, perseverance and patience.
We have no need of bishops who merely appear to be happy: you need to dig deeply in order to discover how the Spirit continues to inspire your bride. Please, don't be bishops with fixed schedules, who always need to change their addresses, like medicine that loses its ability to heal or like bland food that must be thrown away because it has lost its taste (cf Mt 5:13). It is important never to impede the healing power that flows from deep within the gift which you have received; it will protect you from the temptation to come and go without having a clearly defined goal, because no wind is favorable to those who do not know where they are going. And we have already learned where we are headed: we must always go to Jesus. We are always seeking to know where he lives, because he never changes the response he gave to the first disciples who asked the question: Come and see (Jn 1:38-39).
In order to fully live within your Churches, you need to always live in Him and never run away from Him: live in his word, in his Eucharist, about the Father's business (cf Lk 2:49), and above all in his cross. Do not stop the journey, but prolong the stay! Just as the inextinguishable sanctuary lamps in your magnificent cathedrals or your humble chapels continue to burn, so, your concern for the flock should never tire of measuring up to the flame of the Risen Christ. Therefore, strive never to be exhausted or pessimistic bishops who, relying only on yourselves and surrendering to the darkness of the world or resigned to the apparent conflicts that fight against good, cry out in vain that the fort is being attacked. Your vocation is not to be guardians of a failed enterprise, but custodians of the joy of the gospel, therefore you can never be deprived of the only treasure that we have to give and which the world cannot give to herself: the joy and the love of God.
I pray that you will never allow yourselves to be disillusioned by the temptation to change people. Love the people that the Lord has given you, even when they may have committed grave sins, never growing tired of looking to the Lord, in order to obtain forgiveness and a new beginning, even at the price of losing many of your false images of the divine face or the fantasies that have been created about how we should maintain communion with God (cf Ez 32:30-31). Learn the humble but irresistible power of vicarious substitution which is the only root of redemption.
Even the mission, which has become so urgent, is born out of the same seeing where the Lord lives and remaining with him (cf. Jn 1:39). Only those who encounter him, those who remain and live with him are able to capture the charm and authority to lead the world to Christ (cf Jn 1:40-42). I think of the many people who can be taken to him: about your priests first of all. There are many who no longer seek to discover where He lives, or who live at other existential levels, even a few at the lowest levels of existence - at the true peripheries. Others forget about ecclesial paternity or perhaps even grow tired of seeking in vain; now they live as though there were no more fathers or according to the illusion of not having any need of their fathers. I exhort you to cultivate within yourselves, fathers and pastors, an interior sense in which you may always find space for your priests: receiving them, welcoming them, listening to them, guiding them. I would long for bishops who are not so much known for their presence in the media as for their interior space which offers the possibility to encounter other persons, discovering their concrete needs, providing them with the interest and the wholeness of the teaching of the Church, and not just a catalogue of regrets. Such a welcome should be for all people without discrimination, offering the confidence of authority which makes it possible for belief to grow and the sweetness of creative paternity. And please don't fall into the temptation of sacrificing your freedom by cutting the cords short, seeking agreement or choruses of consensus, since on the lips of the Bishop, the Church and the world have the rite to always discover the gospel which makes us free.
Then there are the People of God who have been confided to your care. When, at the moment of your consecration, the name of your Church was proclaimed, the faces of those who God was giving you were vibrant. This people needs your patience to care for them, to help them to grow. I am well aware that we live in difficult times. Serve, and imitate the patience of Moses in order to guide your people, not with a fear of dying as exiles, but spending your energy, all your energy, not for your own sakes but in order to bring those you guide to God. Nothing is more important than to bring people to God! I especially encourage you to be mindful of the young and the elderly. First because they are our allies and second because they are our roots. Allies and roots without which we do not know either where we have come from or where we are headed.
At the conclusion of our meeting, allow the Successor of Peter to look deeply within, from the heights of the mystery that irrevocably unites us. Today, seeing your various faces, which reflect the inexhaustible riches of the Church spread throughout the earth, the Bishop of Rome embraces all that is Catholic. It is not necessary to recall every individual dramatic situation of our days. How I wish that through you, in every Church, a message of encouragement might be heard. Returning homes, wherever they may be, please bring with you an affectionate greeting from the Pope and reassure the people that they are always in his heart.
I see in you the watchmen capable of awakening your Churches, rising up before dawn or in the middle of the night to reawaken faith, hope and charity, without letting yourselves doze off or be conformed with the nostalgic lament of a fecund past but now fading. Dig now into your sources, with the courage to remove the incrustations that have covered the beauty and vigor of your pilgrim and missionary ancestors who implanted Churches and created civilization.
I see in you men capable of cultivating and maturing God’s fields, in which young sowers await hands ready to water daily to expect generous harvests.
I see in you, finally, Pastors able to recompose unity, of weaving nets, of re-sewing, of overcoming fragmentation. Dialogue with respect with the great traditions in which you are immersed, without fear of getting lost or without need to defend your borders, because the identity of the Church is defined by the love of Christ that knows no borders. Guarding jealously the passion for truth, do not waste energies to oppose or collide but to build and to love.
So, watchmen, men capable of taking care of God’s fields, pastors who walk ahead, in the midst and behind the flock, I give you leave, I embrace you, wishing you fecundity, patience, humility and much prayer. Thank you.
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