Pope Francis does it again: Warns against 'little monster' priests

Almost from Day 1 of his election as the Bishop of Rome, the preeminent episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis has conducted a revolutionary refocus of what his church is supposed to be about.

He has called out, castigated and warned all those so-called “conservative” Catholics that they too must get with program—the Jesus program. The program that directly addresses the condition, the always deplorable condition, the needs of “the least of these”— the poor, the downtrodden, the oppressed, the hungry, the homeless, and yes, the imprisoned, but most especially, the just plain poor.

Pope Francis' latest exhortation, however, is directed not at the laity, but to his fellow priests. To do this work, as leaders of the worldwide Catholic flock, they must first purify themselves, both spiritually and physically. Otherwise, he says, they can and often do become "little monsters."

The purification process begins at the beginning—when prospective priests are still in seminary. This calls for a serious culling of those men who are simply not cut out to be priests—those men whose Jesus spirit has, for whatever reason, been compromised.

In practical terms, no longer, for example, will men be accepted to study for or allowed to remain in the priesthood who have been implicated in sexual abuse or who have had other, similar problems. The protection of the Catholic faithful, the congregants, the church itself is what is important, what is indeed paramount—not the individual careers (or even feelings) of particular men who would be (or are) priests.

This Revolutionary Gospel Preacher made these observations back on Nov. 29 during a closed-door meeting of 120 superiors of religious orders who had gathered at the Vatican for their regular assembly. It was only this past Friday, however, that the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica released a report of the three-hour, informal question-and-answer session. The Vatican itself has not provided a transcript of the meeting.

The journal quoted this first Jesuit pope as ordering the superiors to "wake up the world" with their ministries, again, particularly as to the always shameful condition of the world's poor.

"Truly to understand reality we need to move away from the central position of calmness and peacefulness and direct ourselves to the peripheral areas," he said.

But again, Pope Francis emphasized to the superiors that the failure of the church begins in the failings of seminary training, or "formation." He accused many would-be priests of overlooking their “mistakes,” and just "gritting their teeth...following the rules [and] smiling a lot, just waiting for the day when they are told, 'Good, you have finished formation.'"

"This is hypocrisy that is the result of clericalism, which is one of the worst evils," Francis told the paper. It is the result of cronyism and careerism among the men of the cloth.

But the pope did not just criticize. He pointed to the way out and up: The training of priests, he said, must be a "work of art, not a police action."

"We must form their hearts. Otherwise we are creating little monsters. And then these little monsters mold the people of God. This really gives me goosebumps."

Finally, to bring the point home, in his remarks to the superiors Francis spoke again of the "huge problem" of accepting into the seminary someone who has already been asked to leave another religious institute, and he cited Pope Benedict XVI's zero-tolerance stance on priests who commit sexual abuse.

"I am not speaking about people who recognize that they are sinners: We are all sinners, but we are all not corrupt," Francis said. "Sinners are accepted, but not people who are corrupt."

Again, as my mother used to say about particularly insightful, spiritual and moving ministers, “This is somebody's preacher.”

1 Timothy 3:1-13 KJV

This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Just as an FYI, here is the relevant section from the La Civilità Cattolica article. I figure if this is a worthy topic to argue, we may as well argue from as close to what was actually said as possible. It is not a transcript, but it's a lot closer than AFP, NBC, much less "All Voices."

Formation is a work of art, not a police action
Pope Francis then listens to a few questions about formation. He answers immediately, indicating his priorities: “The formation of candidates is fundamental. There are fo ur pillars of formation: spiritual, intellectual, communitarian and apostolic. The ghost to fight against is the image of religious life understood as an escape or hiding place in face of an “external,” difficult and complex world. The four pillars should be integrated right from the first day of entrance into the noviceship, and should not be arranged sequentially. They must be interactive.”
The Pope is aware of the fact that the problem of formation today is not easy to deal with: “Daily culture is much richer and conflictual than that which we experienced in our day, years ago. Our culture was simpler and more ordered. Inculturation today calls for a different attitude. For example: problems are not solved simply by forbidding doing this or that. Dialog as well as confrontation are needed. To avoid problems, in some houses of formation, young people grit their teeth, try not to make mistakes, follow the rules smiling a lot, just waiting for the day when they are told: ‘Good. You have finished formation.’ This is hypocrisy that is the result of clericalism, which is one of the worst evils. I said as much to the bishops of the Latin American Bishops Conference (CELAM) this summer in Rio de Janeiro: we need to conquer this propensity toward clericalism in hou ses of formation and seminaries too. I summarize by some advice that I once received as a young man: ‘If you want to advance, think clearly and speak obscurely.’ That was a clear invitation to hypocrisy. We need to avoid that at all costs.” As a matter of fact in Rio the Pope identified clericalism as one of the causes of the “lack of maturity and Christian freedom” in the People of God.
It follows that: “If the seminary is too large, it ought to be divided into smaller communities with formators who are equipped really to accompany those in their charge. Dialog must be serious, without fear, sincere. It is important to recall that the language of young people in formation today is different from that in the past: we are living through an epochal change. Formation is a work of art, not a police action. We must form their hearts. Otherwise we are creating little monsters. And then these little monsters mold the People of God. This really gives me goose bumps.”
The Pope then insisted on the fact that formation should not be oriented only toward personal growth but also in view of its final goal: the People of God. It is important to think about the people to whom these persons will be sent while forming them: “We must always think of the faithful, of t he faithful People of God. Persons must be formed who are witness of the resurrection of Jesus. The formator should keep in mind that the person in formation will be called to care for the People of God. We always must think of the People of God in all of this. Just think of religious who have hearts that are as sour as vinegar: they are not made for the people. In the end we must not form administrators, managers, but fathers, brothers, traveling companions.”
Finally, Pope Francis wanted to highlight a further risk: “accepting a young man in a seminary who has been asked to leave a religious institute because of problems with formation and for serious reasons is a huge problem. I am not speaking about people who recognize that they are sinners: we are all sinners, but we are not all corrupt. Sinners are accepted, but not people who are corrupt. ”Here the Pope recalled Benedict XVI’s important decision in dealing with cases of abuse: “this should be a lesson to us to have the courage to approach personal for mation as a serious challenge, always keeping in mind the People of God.”

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.