Saturday, June 02, 2012

Pope reaffirms the value of celibacy

The Pope in MilanIt is one of those themes that recur in debates inside the clerical world: must we respond to the lack of priests and the decline in vocations, by removing the need for priestly celibacy? 

From the Duomo in Milan this morning, where he began his second day of visit, Pope Ratzinger emphasized the value of celibacy and consecrated virginity, that some movements of dissent - such as the Pfarrer-Initiatives of Austrian parish priests - would like to question.
 
Welcomed by a cathedral full of nuns, priests and religious, in the presence of many cardinals who arrived in Milan in the final hours from various countries throughout the world, Benedict XVI said midmorning prayers according to the Ambrosian liturgy. 

In his opening speech, Cardinal Angelo Scola recalled the commitment of the new evangelization and said that in the early months of his Ambrosian episcopate he soon became aware of dozens of examples of holiness among the clergy of his diocese.
 
In his homily, the Pope said that "the daily prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours is an essential task" for priests, which prolongs the mystery of the Eucharist. Benedict XVI then indicated, with the words of the Council, the principle and source of unity in the life of priests. 

"There is no opposition between the good in the priest as a person - the pope said - and his mission; indeed, pastoral charity is the unifying element of life that begins with a more intimate relationship with Christ through prayer, in order to live the gift of self for the flock.”
 
"Luminous signs of this pastoral charity and undivided heart - said Ratzinger - are priestly celibacy and consecrated virginity". 

The love of Jesus, he added, "acquires a special meaning for the celibate priest and for those who answer the call to aconsecrated life: always and only in Christcan the source and model be found forrepeating each day that “yes”  to the will ofGod".
 
Before finishing prayers with a visit to the crypt of the cathedral, the Pope recalled "the ranks of Ambrosian priests, of religious men and women who have devoted their energies to the service of the Gospel, sometimes evening sacrificing their lives", like the blessed priests Luigi Talamoni, Luigi Biraghi, Louis Monza, Carlo Gnocchi, Serafino Morazzone, the blessed Giovanni Mazzucconi, Luigi Monti and Clemente Vismara, and sisters Maria Anna Sala and Enrichetta Alfieri.