Pope Assures Rome Priests that 'Sanctity is Stronger Than Scandals'

Catholic News Service ^ | 9/16/13 | Francis X. Rocca

[marshmallow]

ROME (CNS) -- Acting in his capacity as bishop of Rome, Pope Francis offered words of encouragement to his diocesan priests, assuring them that recent and current scandals cannot overcome the church's holiness and urging them to keep their vocations alive through love of God.

The pope made his remarks Sept. 16 at a meeting with diocesan clergy in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of Rome.

Pope Francis devoted the first part of the meeting, which lasted more than two hours, to answering a letter he had received a few days earlier from an elderly parish priest, writing of his struggles as a pastor.

"The letter is beautiful, I was moved," the pope said, speaking without a text. "The letter is simple. The priest is mature and he shared with me one of his feelings: fatigue."

While voicing sympathy, the pope said that such an experience is an inevitable part of priestly life.

"When a priest is in contact with his people, he gets tired," he said, according to a report by Vatican Radio. "When a priest is not in contact with his people, he gets tired, but in a bad way, and to fall asleep he needs to take a pill."

"The people have so many demands, so many demands, but they are the demands of God," the pope said. "That makes one seriously tired, right? And one doesn't need pills."

The pope then took questions from five of the priests in the audience, who asked him about specific pastoral challenges.

[SpirituTuo]

He would have made a good military officer.

[Jeff Chandler]

This is good.

It is important for all of us to support and pray for our diocesan priests. Not only do they carry the awesome responsibility of their vocations, they must also swim against the tide of negativity borne of the worst of their predecessors.

God bless Pope Francis for this.