‘Abandon Tridentine model of priesthood’
Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, relator-general of the synod on synodality, encouraged parish priests taking part in an international congress to abandon the Tridentine model of the priesthood.
“Many times their [priests’] training and their reality have been oriented towards a Tridentine model of the priesthood. And now they see that the identity they had for centuries is crumbling, and sometimes this identity is lost... and there is the danger of wanting to build a new identity based on the experience of the past. The identity of priests and parish priests (even bishops) is given to us by the Holy Spirit when we walk with the people.”
Jesus, our friend
In his Angelus address for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Pope Francis said: “[Jesus] tells us that for him we are precisely this, friends: dear people beyond all merit and expectation, to whom he extends his hand and offers his love, his grace, his word; with whom – with us, friends – he shares what is dearest to him, all that he has heard from the Father.
And so let us ask ourselves: what face does the Lord have for me? The face of a friend or of a stranger? Do I feel loved by him as a dear person? And what is the face of Jesus that I show to others, especially to those who err and need forgiveness?”
Population growth and prosperity
Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Holy See’s permanent observer to the UN, said: “Population growth is often erroneously cited as a major cause of the increasing number of people experiencing food insecurity, leading to the conclusion that fertility rate reduction strategies could be the answer. Recent decades have shown this is not the case. Rather, population growth has gone hand in hand with significant increases in food production, demonstrating that it is fully compatible with shared prosperity and the achievement of integral human development for all.”
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)