Priests must be “true prophets,” the prefect of the Congregation for
Clergy writes in a letter to Catholic clerics timed for the beginning of
Lent.
Cardinal Mauro Piacenza exhorts all priests to a “renewed conversion,”
saying that only a genuine dedication to God’s work will enable pastors
to lead their flocks in a renewal of Christian zeal.
“A de-Christianized
world requires a new evangelization,” the cardinal writes, and priests
must enrich their own spiritual lives in order to lead their people.
Cardinal Piacenza acknowledges that pastors are under stress in a
secular age, and often “the fatigue is truly great.”
But if the Church
needs more priests to help in the work, he argues, today’s priests must
help to spark renewed interest in the faith among young men. He warns
that “if first we don’t convert ourselves, we will become even fewer.”
The cardinal says that “only a renewed, converted priest can become an
instrument through which the Spirit calls new priests.”