Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The priest is not a kind of "social worker", rather a " man of the sacred " who "speaks of God to the world and presents the world to God", who detach themselves from the fashions of the time and who "in a context of widespread secularization, which progressively excludes God from the public sphere, and, basically, even shared social consciousness" express "the freedom that only the certainty of belonging to God can give." Benedict XVI thus described the priest, in the year dedicated to him, to reiterate the value of "celibacy" in a time where, even within the Church, voices are being raised that call for the amendment of celibacy, if not its outright abolition.  

Meeting participants at the International Theological conference today organized by the Congregation for the Clergy on “Faithfulness of Christ, Faithfulness of Priests” the Pope in fact spoke of the "priestly identity," describing it as "crucial to the exercise of priestly ministry in the present and future. In an age like ours, that is so "polycentric" and inclined to blurring conceptions of identity, believed by many to be contrary to freedom and democracy, it is important to be clear about the theological distinctiveness of the ordained ministry to resist the temptation to reduce it the dominant cultural categories. In a context of widespread secularization, which progressively excludes God from the public sphere, and, basically, even shared social consciousness, the priest often appears "unrelated" to common feeling, because of the most fundamental aspects of his ministry, such as those being a man of the sacred, removed from the world to intercede in favour of the world, a mission that constituted by God and not by men (cf. Heb 5:1). For this reason it is important to overcome dangerous reductions, which in past decades by using categories that are more functionalist than ontological, the priest has been presented almost as a "social worker", at the risk of betraying the same Priesthood of Christ".  

Today "there is great need for priests who speak of God to the world and present the world to God, men who are not subject to ephemeral cultural fashions, but able to authentically live the freedom that only the certainty of belonging to God can gift. The priest, in fact, is the "property" by God "This his ‘belonging to Another’ must become recognizable to all, through clear testimony. In order to think, speak, to judge the facts of the world, to serve and love, to relate to people, even in his dressing, the priest should draw strength from his sacramental belonging, from his deepest being. He must therefore make every effort to detach himself from the prevailing mentality that tends to associate the value of the minister not to his being, but  his role, thus misunderstanding, God's work, which profoundly penetrates the identity of the person of the Priest, permanently configuring the priest to Him”.  

"The ontological horizon of belonging to God is also the right framework to understand and reaffirm, even today, the value of celibacy, which in the Latin Church is a charisma required for Holy Orders (cf. Presbyterorum Ordinis, 16) and is held in high esteem in the Eastern Churches (cf. CCEO, can. 373). It is authentic prophecy of the Kingdom, a sign of consecration to the Lord with an undivided heart and the "things of the Lord" (1 Cor 7:32), an expression of self-giving to God and to others (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n.1579) .  

"The men and women of our time – concluded Benedict XVI - ask us to be priests to the end and nothing else. The laity will find in many other people what they humanly need, but only in the priest can they find the Word of God which must always be on his lips (see Presbyterorum Ordinis, 4); the mercy of God, abundantly and freely bestowed in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the Bread of new Life, "real food given to men" (cf. Hymn of the Office of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi Roman Rite).