This afternoon, at 3:00pm local time (9:00am EDT), the Holy Father, Pope Francis paid a private visit to the Parish of San Gaetano in the Brancaccio neighbourhood and to the home of Blessed Pino Puglisi, located in Piazza Anita Garibaldi.
Then, he went to the Cathedral where, at 3:50pm, he met with Clergy, Religious men and women and Seminarians.
Good afternoon!
This morning we celebrated together the memory of Blessed Pino Puglisi; now I would like to share with you three basic aspects of his priesthood, which can help our priesthood and also help the consecrated priests and the consecrated women to give our total yes to God and to our brothers and sisters. There are three simple verbs that are faithful to the figure of Don Pino, who was a simple priest, a true priest. And as a priest, he was consecrated to God; even the sisters can participate in this.
The first verb is to celebrate. Even today, at at the centre of every Mass, we pronounce the words of the Institution: Take, all of you, and eat: this is my body offered as a sacrifice for you. These words should not remain on the altar, they must be incorporated into life: they are our daily life program. We must not only speak them in persona Christi, we must live them in the first person. Take and eat, this is my body offered for you, we tell our brothers and sisters, together with Jesus. The words of the Institution therefore outline our priestly identity: they remind us that the priest is a man of the gift, of the gift of himself, every day, without holidays and without a break. Because ours, dear priests, is not a profession but a gift; not a job, which can also serve as a career, but a mission. And this is also the case with the consecrated life. Every day we can do the examination of conscience, even focusing on these words - take and eat: this is my body offered for you - and ask ourselves: "Today, did I gave my life for the love of the Lord, did I let myself be eaten by my brothers and sisters? Don Pino lived like this: the epilogue of his life was the logical consequence of the Mass he celebrated every day.
There is a second fundamental sacramental formula in the priest's life: I absolve you from your sins. Here is the joy of giving God's forgiveness. But here the priest, a man of the gift, also discovers a man of forgiveness. All Christians must be men and women of forgiveness, but priests in a special way in the sacrament of Reconciliation. In fact, the words of Reconciliation do not only say what happens when we act in persona Christi, but they also show us how to act according to Christ. I absolve you: the priest, a man of forgiveness, is called to incarnate these words. He is a man of forgiveness. And similarly, women religious are women of forgiveness. How many times in religious communities there is no forgiveness, there is chatter, there are jealousies ... No. Be the Man of forgiveness, the priest, in Confession, but all of you, be consecrated men and women of forgiveness. The priest does not bear grudges, does not weigh what he has not received, does not hurt badly. The priest is the bearer of the peace of Jesus: benevolent, merciful, able to forgive others as God forgives them through him (cf Eph 4,32). Bring about agreement where there is division, harmony where there is quarrel, serenity where there is animosity. But if the priest is a talker, instead of bringing concord he will bring division, he will bring war, he will bring things that will cause the priesthood to end up divided within itself and against the bishop. The priest is a full-time minister of reconciliation: he administers forgiveness and peace not only in the confessional, but everywhere. We ask God to help us be healthy bearers of the Gospel, able to forgive from the heart, to love our enemies. We think of many priests and many communities where they hate each other as enemies, where there is competition, jealousy, where there are climbers ... these attitudes are not Christian! A bishop once told me: I will have some religious communities and some priests baptize them once again to make them Christians because they behave like pagans. And the Lord asks us to be men and women of forgiveness, able to forgive with all our hearts, to love our enemies and to pray for those who hurt us (cf Mt 18.35, 5:44). Praying for those who hurt us seems like a museum thing (something of the past) ... No, today we have to do it today! The strength of you priests, of your priesthood, the strength of you religious, of your consecrated life, is here: in praying for those who do evil, like Jesus did.
The gymnasium where you train to be men of forgiveness is the first seminar and then the priesthood. For the consecrated, yours is the community. We all know that it is not easy to forgive among ourselves: Did you do it? You will pay for that! But not only in the mafia, even in our communities and in our priests, that's how it is. In the priesthood and in the community the desire to unite, according to God, is to be nourished; not to divide according to the devil. Let's put this good in our heads. When there is division there is the devil, he is the great accuser, the one who accuses in order to divide, he divides everything! There, in the priesthood and in community, brothers and sisters should be accepted, there the Lord calls us every day to work toward overcoming differences. And this is a constituent part of being priests and consecrated persons. It is not an accident, it belongs to the substance. Pulling tares, provoking divisions, gossiping and chatting are not sins that everyone commits, no: they are the way we deny our identity as priests, men of forgiveness, and consecrated men and women of communion. The error must always be distinguished from the one who commits it; they must always be loved and welcomed for they are our brothers and sisters. We can think of Don Pino, who was available to everyone, always was waiting with an open heart, even for criminals.
The priest is a man of the gift and of forgiveness, here is how to conjugate the verb celebrate in life. You can celebrate Mass every day and then be a man of division, of chatter, of jealousy, even a criminal because he kills his brother with his tongue. And these are not my words, this is what the apostle James says. Read the letter of James. Even religious communities can listen to Mass every day, go to communion, but with hatred in their hearts toward their brothers and sisters. The priest is a man of God 24 hours a day, not a man of the sacred when he wears vestments. The liturgy is life for you, not a ritual. This is why it is fundamental to pray to the One we talk about, to nourish ourselves with the Word we preach, to adore the Bread we consecrate, and to do it every day. Prayer, Word, Bread; Father Pino Puglisi, called them the 3Ps, help us to remember these three Ps: they are essential for each priest every day, essential for all consecrated men and women every day: Prayer, Word, Bread.
Be a man of forgiveness, a priest who gives forgiveness, that is, a man of mercy and this especially in the confessional, in the sacrament of Reconciliation. It is so bad when in the confessional, the priest begins to dig, to dig into the soul of the other: "And how was it, and how did you do ... This is a man who is sick! You are there to forgive in the name of the only Father who forgives, not to measure up to where I can, to where I can not ... I think that on this point of Confession we have to convert so much: receive the penitents with mercy, without digging into their souls, without making Confession a psychiatric visit, without making Confession a detective investigation. Forgiveness, a big heart, mercy. The other day a very strict Cardinal, I would say even conservative - because today we say: this is conservative, this is open - a Cardinal said to me: If someone comes to the Father, because I am there in the name of Jesus and the Eternal Father, and says: Forgive me, forgive me, I have done this, this, this ...; and I feel that according to the rules I should not forgive, but which father does not forgive his son who asks him with tears and despair? Then, once forgiven, he will be advised: You will have to do this ...; or: I have to do this, and I will do it for you. When the prodigal son arrived with the speech prepared before his father and began to say: Father, I have sinned! ..., the father embraced him, did not let him speak, he immediately gave him forgiveness. And when the other child did not want to go in, the father went out to give him this trust of forgiveness, of sonship. This is very important for me to heal our very wounded Church that looks like a field hospital.
Finally, still concerning celebrating, I would like to say something about popular piety which is very common in these lands. A Bishop told me that in his diocese I do not know how many confraternities there are and he told me: I always go to them, I do not leave them alone, I accompany them. This is a treasure that must be appreciated and guarded, because it has an evangelizing force (cf Evangelii gaudium, 122-126), but the protagonist must always be the Holy Spirit. I therefore ask you to watch carefully, so that popular religiosity is not exploited by the mafia, because then, instead of being a means of affectionate adoration, it becomes a vehicle of corrupt ostentation. We have seen this in the newspapers when the Madonna stopped and bowed in front of the mafia boss's house; no, this is not right, absolutely not! Concerning popular piety, take care, help, be present. An Italian bishop told me this: Popular piety is the immune system of the Church; it is the Church's immune system. When the Church begins to become too ideological, too gnostic or too Pelagian, popular piety corrects it, defends it.
I propose a second verb: accompany. Accompanying is the keystone of being pastors today. We need ministers who embody the proximity of the Good Shepherd, of priests who are living icons of proximity. This word must be emphasized: proximity, because it is what God has done. He did it first with his people. Concerning this matter, he also scolds them, in Deuteronomy - think well - he tells them: Tell me, have you ever seen a people who have gods so close to you as you have your God near you? This closeness, this proximity of God in the Old Testament, became flesh, became one of us in Jesus Christ. God made himself close by lowerirng himself, emptying himself, as Paul says. Proximity, we must resume this word. Poor goods and proclamations, rich in relationship and understanding. We still think of Don Puglisi who, more than talking about young people, spoke with young people. Being with them, following them, making the most real questions and the most beautiful answers come out with them. It is a mission that arises from patience, from welcoming listening, from having a father's heart, a mother's heart, toward the religious, and never a master's heart. The Archbishop told us about the apostolate of the ear, the patience to listen. Pastoral care must be done this way, with patience and dedication, for Christ and full time.
Don Pino ripped others from discomfort by simply being a priest with a shepherd's heart. We learn from him to reject any disembodied spirituality and to get our hands dirty with people's problems. I get a bad odour from that spirituality that leads you to stand upside down, closed or open, and you're always there ... This is not Catholic! We go to meet people with the simplicity of those who want to love them with Jesus in their hearts, without grandiose projects, without riding the fashions of the moment. At our age, we have seen so many grandiose pastoral projects ... What have they done? Anything! Pastoral projects, pastoral plans are necessary, but as a means, a means to increase proximity, the preaching of the Gospel, but in themselves they are not useful. The way of encounter, of listening, of sharing is the way of the Church. Growing together in the parish, following the paths of young people at school, accompanying vocations, families and the sick; creating meeting places where people can pray, reflect, play, spend time in a healthy way and learn how to be good Christians and honest citizens. This is pastoral work that generates, and activity that regenerates the priest himself, the religious herself.
One thing I especially want to say to the Religious: your mission is great, because the Church is a mother and her way of accompanying must always have a maternal trait. You religious, remember that you are icons of the Church, because the Church is a woman, the bride of Christ, you are an icon of the Church. Remember that you are an icon of the Madonna, who is the mother of the Church. Your motherhood is so good, so good. Once - I have told this many times, I will say it briefly - there were, where my father worked, so many immigrants after the Spanish war, communists, socialists ... all of them were eating. One of them got sick, he was treated for 30 days at home, because the nun came to treat him since he had a very bad disease, very difficult to treat. In the early days he told her all the bad words he knew, and the nun silently treated him. Once the story is over, that man was reconciled. And once, while he and some others were working together, two nuns were passing by and some of the others said swear words, and he punched one of them and threw him to the ground and said: "With God and with the priests take it, but the Madonna and the nuns do not touch them! You are the door, because you are mothers, and the Church is a mother. The tenderness of a mother, the patience of a mother ... Please do not devalue your charism of women and the charism of consecrated persons. It is important that you be involved in pastoral care to reveal the face of the mother Church. It is important that the bishops call upon you in the councils, in the various pastoral councils, because the voice of the woman is always important, the voice of the consecrated person is important. And I would like to thank the contemplatives who, with their prayer and the total gift of their lives, are the heart of the Mother Church and the love that connects everything that pulsates in the Body of Christ.
Celebrate, accompany, and now the last verb, which is actually the first thing to do: to testify. This concerns us all and in particular, it applies to religious life, which is in itself testimony and prophecy of the Lord in the world. In the apartment where Padre Pino lived stands a genuine simplicity. It is the eloquent sign of a life that is consecrated to the Lord, a life that does not seek consolations and glory from the world. People look for this in the priest and in the consecrated man and woman, they look for testimony. People are not shocked when they see that the priest slips, is a sinner, repents and goes on ... The scandal for people is when they see worldly priests, with the spirit of the world. The people's scandal is when they find an official in the priest, not a pastor. And this puts it right in your head and in your heart: shepherds yes, officials no! Life speaks more than words. Testimony is infectious. In front of Don Pino we ask for the grace to live the Gospel like him: in the light of the sun, immersed in his people, rich only in the love of God. We can make many discussions about the relationship between the Church and the world and the Gospel, but we do not need the case where the Gospel does not proceed from one's life first. And the Gospel asks us, today more than ever: to serve in simplicity, in witness. This means we must be ministers: not in order to perform functions, but to serve happily, without depending on the things that pass and without binding to the powers of the world. Thus, free to testify, the gospel demonstrates that the Church is a sacrament of salvation, that is, a sign that indicates and an instrument that offers salvation to the world.
The Church is not above the world - that is clericalism - the Church is inside the world, to make it ferment, like leaven in the dough. For this reason, dear brothers and sisters, every form of clericalism must be banned. It is one of the most difficult perversions to remove today, clericalism: haughty, arrogant or overbearing attitudes do not belong within you. To be credible witnesses it must be remembered that before being priests we were all deacons; before being sacred ministers we are brothers of all, servants. What would you say to a bishop who tells you that some of his priests do not want to go to a nearby village to say a Mass of the dead if the offer does not arrive first? What would you say to that bishop? And there are Bishops with such concerns! Brothers and sisters, there are! We pray for these brothers, officials. Even careerism and familiarism are enemies to be ousted, because their logic is that of power, and the priest is not a man of power, but of service. The nun is not a woman of power, but of service. Therefore, witnessing means fleeing every duplicity, that hypocrisy which is so closely linked to clericalism; to escape every duplicity of life, in the seminary, in religious life, in the priesthood. One can not live a double moral: one for the people of God and another in their own home. No, the testimony is only one. The witness of Jesus always belongs to him. And for his sake he undertakes a daily battle against his vices and against all alienating mundanity.
Finally, the witness is the one who without many words, but with a smile and with confident serenity knows how to cheer and console, because he naturally reveals the presence of the risen and living Jesus. I wish you priests, consecrated men and women and seminarians to be witnesses of hope, like Father Pino once said so well: "To those who are disoriented, the witness of hope indicates not what hope is, but who is hope. Hope is Christ, and it is logically indicated through the witness' own life oriented towards Christ (Address to the Conference of the Movement Presence of the Gospel, 1991). Not with words.
I thank you and I bless you, and excuse me if I have been a bit forceful, but I like to speak like that! I wish you the joy of celebrating, accompanying and testifying to the great gift which God has placed within your hearts. Thank you and please pray for me!
Then, he went to the Cathedral where, at 3:50pm, he met with Clergy, Religious men and women and Seminarians.
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the meeting with Clergy, Religious men and women
and Seminarians
Good afternoon!
This morning we celebrated together the memory of Blessed Pino Puglisi; now I would like to share with you three basic aspects of his priesthood, which can help our priesthood and also help the consecrated priests and the consecrated women to give our total yes to God and to our brothers and sisters. There are three simple verbs that are faithful to the figure of Don Pino, who was a simple priest, a true priest. And as a priest, he was consecrated to God; even the sisters can participate in this.
The first verb is to celebrate. Even today, at at the centre of every Mass, we pronounce the words of the Institution: Take, all of you, and eat: this is my body offered as a sacrifice for you. These words should not remain on the altar, they must be incorporated into life: they are our daily life program. We must not only speak them in persona Christi, we must live them in the first person. Take and eat, this is my body offered for you, we tell our brothers and sisters, together with Jesus. The words of the Institution therefore outline our priestly identity: they remind us that the priest is a man of the gift, of the gift of himself, every day, without holidays and without a break. Because ours, dear priests, is not a profession but a gift; not a job, which can also serve as a career, but a mission. And this is also the case with the consecrated life. Every day we can do the examination of conscience, even focusing on these words - take and eat: this is my body offered for you - and ask ourselves: "Today, did I gave my life for the love of the Lord, did I let myself be eaten by my brothers and sisters? Don Pino lived like this: the epilogue of his life was the logical consequence of the Mass he celebrated every day.
There is a second fundamental sacramental formula in the priest's life: I absolve you from your sins. Here is the joy of giving God's forgiveness. But here the priest, a man of the gift, also discovers a man of forgiveness. All Christians must be men and women of forgiveness, but priests in a special way in the sacrament of Reconciliation. In fact, the words of Reconciliation do not only say what happens when we act in persona Christi, but they also show us how to act according to Christ. I absolve you: the priest, a man of forgiveness, is called to incarnate these words. He is a man of forgiveness. And similarly, women religious are women of forgiveness. How many times in religious communities there is no forgiveness, there is chatter, there are jealousies ... No. Be the Man of forgiveness, the priest, in Confession, but all of you, be consecrated men and women of forgiveness. The priest does not bear grudges, does not weigh what he has not received, does not hurt badly. The priest is the bearer of the peace of Jesus: benevolent, merciful, able to forgive others as God forgives them through him (cf Eph 4,32). Bring about agreement where there is division, harmony where there is quarrel, serenity where there is animosity. But if the priest is a talker, instead of bringing concord he will bring division, he will bring war, he will bring things that will cause the priesthood to end up divided within itself and against the bishop. The priest is a full-time minister of reconciliation: he administers forgiveness and peace not only in the confessional, but everywhere. We ask God to help us be healthy bearers of the Gospel, able to forgive from the heart, to love our enemies. We think of many priests and many communities where they hate each other as enemies, where there is competition, jealousy, where there are climbers ... these attitudes are not Christian! A bishop once told me: I will have some religious communities and some priests baptize them once again to make them Christians because they behave like pagans. And the Lord asks us to be men and women of forgiveness, able to forgive with all our hearts, to love our enemies and to pray for those who hurt us (cf Mt 18.35, 5:44). Praying for those who hurt us seems like a museum thing (something of the past) ... No, today we have to do it today! The strength of you priests, of your priesthood, the strength of you religious, of your consecrated life, is here: in praying for those who do evil, like Jesus did.
The gymnasium where you train to be men of forgiveness is the first seminar and then the priesthood. For the consecrated, yours is the community. We all know that it is not easy to forgive among ourselves: Did you do it? You will pay for that! But not only in the mafia, even in our communities and in our priests, that's how it is. In the priesthood and in the community the desire to unite, according to God, is to be nourished; not to divide according to the devil. Let's put this good in our heads. When there is division there is the devil, he is the great accuser, the one who accuses in order to divide, he divides everything! There, in the priesthood and in community, brothers and sisters should be accepted, there the Lord calls us every day to work toward overcoming differences. And this is a constituent part of being priests and consecrated persons. It is not an accident, it belongs to the substance. Pulling tares, provoking divisions, gossiping and chatting are not sins that everyone commits, no: they are the way we deny our identity as priests, men of forgiveness, and consecrated men and women of communion. The error must always be distinguished from the one who commits it; they must always be loved and welcomed for they are our brothers and sisters. We can think of Don Pino, who was available to everyone, always was waiting with an open heart, even for criminals.
The priest is a man of the gift and of forgiveness, here is how to conjugate the verb celebrate in life. You can celebrate Mass every day and then be a man of division, of chatter, of jealousy, even a criminal because he kills his brother with his tongue. And these are not my words, this is what the apostle James says. Read the letter of James. Even religious communities can listen to Mass every day, go to communion, but with hatred in their hearts toward their brothers and sisters. The priest is a man of God 24 hours a day, not a man of the sacred when he wears vestments. The liturgy is life for you, not a ritual. This is why it is fundamental to pray to the One we talk about, to nourish ourselves with the Word we preach, to adore the Bread we consecrate, and to do it every day. Prayer, Word, Bread; Father Pino Puglisi, called them the 3Ps, help us to remember these three Ps: they are essential for each priest every day, essential for all consecrated men and women every day: Prayer, Word, Bread.
Be a man of forgiveness, a priest who gives forgiveness, that is, a man of mercy and this especially in the confessional, in the sacrament of Reconciliation. It is so bad when in the confessional, the priest begins to dig, to dig into the soul of the other: "And how was it, and how did you do ... This is a man who is sick! You are there to forgive in the name of the only Father who forgives, not to measure up to where I can, to where I can not ... I think that on this point of Confession we have to convert so much: receive the penitents with mercy, without digging into their souls, without making Confession a psychiatric visit, without making Confession a detective investigation. Forgiveness, a big heart, mercy. The other day a very strict Cardinal, I would say even conservative - because today we say: this is conservative, this is open - a Cardinal said to me: If someone comes to the Father, because I am there in the name of Jesus and the Eternal Father, and says: Forgive me, forgive me, I have done this, this, this ...; and I feel that according to the rules I should not forgive, but which father does not forgive his son who asks him with tears and despair? Then, once forgiven, he will be advised: You will have to do this ...; or: I have to do this, and I will do it for you. When the prodigal son arrived with the speech prepared before his father and began to say: Father, I have sinned! ..., the father embraced him, did not let him speak, he immediately gave him forgiveness. And when the other child did not want to go in, the father went out to give him this trust of forgiveness, of sonship. This is very important for me to heal our very wounded Church that looks like a field hospital.
Finally, still concerning celebrating, I would like to say something about popular piety which is very common in these lands. A Bishop told me that in his diocese I do not know how many confraternities there are and he told me: I always go to them, I do not leave them alone, I accompany them. This is a treasure that must be appreciated and guarded, because it has an evangelizing force (cf Evangelii gaudium, 122-126), but the protagonist must always be the Holy Spirit. I therefore ask you to watch carefully, so that popular religiosity is not exploited by the mafia, because then, instead of being a means of affectionate adoration, it becomes a vehicle of corrupt ostentation. We have seen this in the newspapers when the Madonna stopped and bowed in front of the mafia boss's house; no, this is not right, absolutely not! Concerning popular piety, take care, help, be present. An Italian bishop told me this: Popular piety is the immune system of the Church; it is the Church's immune system. When the Church begins to become too ideological, too gnostic or too Pelagian, popular piety corrects it, defends it.
I propose a second verb: accompany. Accompanying is the keystone of being pastors today. We need ministers who embody the proximity of the Good Shepherd, of priests who are living icons of proximity. This word must be emphasized: proximity, because it is what God has done. He did it first with his people. Concerning this matter, he also scolds them, in Deuteronomy - think well - he tells them: Tell me, have you ever seen a people who have gods so close to you as you have your God near you? This closeness, this proximity of God in the Old Testament, became flesh, became one of us in Jesus Christ. God made himself close by lowerirng himself, emptying himself, as Paul says. Proximity, we must resume this word. Poor goods and proclamations, rich in relationship and understanding. We still think of Don Puglisi who, more than talking about young people, spoke with young people. Being with them, following them, making the most real questions and the most beautiful answers come out with them. It is a mission that arises from patience, from welcoming listening, from having a father's heart, a mother's heart, toward the religious, and never a master's heart. The Archbishop told us about the apostolate of the ear, the patience to listen. Pastoral care must be done this way, with patience and dedication, for Christ and full time.
Don Pino ripped others from discomfort by simply being a priest with a shepherd's heart. We learn from him to reject any disembodied spirituality and to get our hands dirty with people's problems. I get a bad odour from that spirituality that leads you to stand upside down, closed or open, and you're always there ... This is not Catholic! We go to meet people with the simplicity of those who want to love them with Jesus in their hearts, without grandiose projects, without riding the fashions of the moment. At our age, we have seen so many grandiose pastoral projects ... What have they done? Anything! Pastoral projects, pastoral plans are necessary, but as a means, a means to increase proximity, the preaching of the Gospel, but in themselves they are not useful. The way of encounter, of listening, of sharing is the way of the Church. Growing together in the parish, following the paths of young people at school, accompanying vocations, families and the sick; creating meeting places where people can pray, reflect, play, spend time in a healthy way and learn how to be good Christians and honest citizens. This is pastoral work that generates, and activity that regenerates the priest himself, the religious herself.
One thing I especially want to say to the Religious: your mission is great, because the Church is a mother and her way of accompanying must always have a maternal trait. You religious, remember that you are icons of the Church, because the Church is a woman, the bride of Christ, you are an icon of the Church. Remember that you are an icon of the Madonna, who is the mother of the Church. Your motherhood is so good, so good. Once - I have told this many times, I will say it briefly - there were, where my father worked, so many immigrants after the Spanish war, communists, socialists ... all of them were eating. One of them got sick, he was treated for 30 days at home, because the nun came to treat him since he had a very bad disease, very difficult to treat. In the early days he told her all the bad words he knew, and the nun silently treated him. Once the story is over, that man was reconciled. And once, while he and some others were working together, two nuns were passing by and some of the others said swear words, and he punched one of them and threw him to the ground and said: "With God and with the priests take it, but the Madonna and the nuns do not touch them! You are the door, because you are mothers, and the Church is a mother. The tenderness of a mother, the patience of a mother ... Please do not devalue your charism of women and the charism of consecrated persons. It is important that you be involved in pastoral care to reveal the face of the mother Church. It is important that the bishops call upon you in the councils, in the various pastoral councils, because the voice of the woman is always important, the voice of the consecrated person is important. And I would like to thank the contemplatives who, with their prayer and the total gift of their lives, are the heart of the Mother Church and the love that connects everything that pulsates in the Body of Christ.
Celebrate, accompany, and now the last verb, which is actually the first thing to do: to testify. This concerns us all and in particular, it applies to religious life, which is in itself testimony and prophecy of the Lord in the world. In the apartment where Padre Pino lived stands a genuine simplicity. It is the eloquent sign of a life that is consecrated to the Lord, a life that does not seek consolations and glory from the world. People look for this in the priest and in the consecrated man and woman, they look for testimony. People are not shocked when they see that the priest slips, is a sinner, repents and goes on ... The scandal for people is when they see worldly priests, with the spirit of the world. The people's scandal is when they find an official in the priest, not a pastor. And this puts it right in your head and in your heart: shepherds yes, officials no! Life speaks more than words. Testimony is infectious. In front of Don Pino we ask for the grace to live the Gospel like him: in the light of the sun, immersed in his people, rich only in the love of God. We can make many discussions about the relationship between the Church and the world and the Gospel, but we do not need the case where the Gospel does not proceed from one's life first. And the Gospel asks us, today more than ever: to serve in simplicity, in witness. This means we must be ministers: not in order to perform functions, but to serve happily, without depending on the things that pass and without binding to the powers of the world. Thus, free to testify, the gospel demonstrates that the Church is a sacrament of salvation, that is, a sign that indicates and an instrument that offers salvation to the world.
The Church is not above the world - that is clericalism - the Church is inside the world, to make it ferment, like leaven in the dough. For this reason, dear brothers and sisters, every form of clericalism must be banned. It is one of the most difficult perversions to remove today, clericalism: haughty, arrogant or overbearing attitudes do not belong within you. To be credible witnesses it must be remembered that before being priests we were all deacons; before being sacred ministers we are brothers of all, servants. What would you say to a bishop who tells you that some of his priests do not want to go to a nearby village to say a Mass of the dead if the offer does not arrive first? What would you say to that bishop? And there are Bishops with such concerns! Brothers and sisters, there are! We pray for these brothers, officials. Even careerism and familiarism are enemies to be ousted, because their logic is that of power, and the priest is not a man of power, but of service. The nun is not a woman of power, but of service. Therefore, witnessing means fleeing every duplicity, that hypocrisy which is so closely linked to clericalism; to escape every duplicity of life, in the seminary, in religious life, in the priesthood. One can not live a double moral: one for the people of God and another in their own home. No, the testimony is only one. The witness of Jesus always belongs to him. And for his sake he undertakes a daily battle against his vices and against all alienating mundanity.
Finally, the witness is the one who without many words, but with a smile and with confident serenity knows how to cheer and console, because he naturally reveals the presence of the risen and living Jesus. I wish you priests, consecrated men and women and seminarians to be witnesses of hope, like Father Pino once said so well: "To those who are disoriented, the witness of hope indicates not what hope is, but who is hope. Hope is Christ, and it is logically indicated through the witness' own life oriented towards Christ (Address to the Conference of the Movement Presence of the Gospel, 1991). Not with words.
I thank you and I bless you, and excuse me if I have been a bit forceful, but I like to speak like that! I wish you the joy of celebrating, accompanying and testifying to the great gift which God has placed within your hearts. Thank you and please pray for me!
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