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A common priesthood to make God known to others
Feb
Vatican City. The Symposium on Priesthood is held these days, from February 17 to 19, 2022. Its an International Congress on Vocations: Priests, Laity, Consecrated, promoted by the Center for Research and Anthropology of Vocations and Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. And our Congregation is taking part in it through the Theological Institute of Religious Life of Madrid.
The first words heard in the Paul VI Hall of the Vatican on the morning of February 17 were challenging. For their harshness, urgency, truth, and what they imply inside and outside the walls of the Church and of our Congregation. Cardinal Ouellet and Pope Francis both delivered those words. The former wanted to situate the initiative of this international symposium in the context of a Church torn apart by the scandals of abuse perpetrated in it and presented the opportunity of these days as one more light in the process of recovering the problematic balance between the “baptismal priesthood” and the “ministerial priesthood.” The Pope, for his part, appealing to the witness of the many ordained ministers who accompany him and whom he accompanies on life’s journey, urged all priests to rediscover the “four fundamental closenesses” of their vocation: closeness to God, closeness to their bishop, closeness among priests and closeness to the people of God. A call that, beyond sterile functionalisms, seeks to awaken the mercy of God in those who are called to be shepherds after his own heart.