PrayTheRosary Apostolate

Priests are not social workers, Pope says

- Catholic World News March 12, 2010

A Catholic priest cannot be reduced to a "social worker," Pope Benedict XVI told a group of priests in Rome on March 12. Adopting that model of priestly ministry, he said, runs "the risk of betraying the very priesthood of Christ."

Speaking to participants in a theological conference organized by the Congregation for Clergy, the Holy Father said that clerics must not "surrender to the temptation of reducing [the priesthood] to predominant cultural models." In today's world, "widespread secularization" has cut into appreciation for the priest in his pastoral and ministerial role, and accentuated his public activities, he said.

Today, the Pope said, "There is great need for priests who speak of God to the world and who present the world to God; men not subject to ephemeral cultural fashions, but capable of authentically living the freedom that only the certainty of belonging to God can give." He stressed the importance of imitating Christ's priesthood and speaking in a prophetic voice. "And the prophecy most necessary today is that of faithfulness," the Pope said.

"The vocation of priests is an exalted one, and remains a great mystery," the Pontiff continued. "The lay faithful will be able to meet their human needs in many other people, but only in the priest will they find that Word of God which must always be on his lips, the Mercy of the Father abundantly and gratuitously distributed."

LET US PRAY FOR GOOD AND HOLY PRIESTS!