Pope to new priests: not perfect, but credible

On the day the Church dedicates to the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the pontiff presides over the ordination of 11 deacons in St. Peter's Basilica. Among them is a priest of Vietnamese origin. In his homily, he urges them to be ‘not masters, but guardians’ and, recalling a theme dear to Pope Francis, asks them to shun ‘self-referentiality.’ And ‘God has not grown weary of gathering his children.’

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - ‘It is not important to be perfect, but it is necessary to be credible’ in order to rebuild “together” the ‘credibility of a wounded Church, sent to a wounded humanity, within a wounded creation.’

This is what Pope Leo XIV said today during Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on the occasion of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, during which he presided over the ordination of 11 deacons. Of these, seven came from the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary and four from the Diocesan College Redemptoris Mater.

Concelebrating with Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar general for the Diocese of Rome, cardinals, bishops and priests, the pontiff recalled St. Paul's ‘moving’ farewell speech in his homily:

"Let us keep this expression engraved in our hearts and minds! “You know how I have behaved”: the transparency of life. Lives that are known, lives that are readable, lives that are credible! We are,‘ said Pope Prevost, ’within the people of God, so that we can stand before them with credible witness."

The new priests for the diocese of Rome are between 28 and 49 years old and come to the sacrament from different backgrounds, witnesses of a young faith and at the service of an often complicated reality. Among them is also a priest of Vietnamese origin, Pietro Hong Hieu Nguyen, assigned to the parish of Our Lady of the Visitation and Pelosio in Santa Teresa di Calcutta.

Addressing the ordinands, the pontiff invited them to conceive of themselves “in the manner of Jesus! Being God's - servants of God, people of God - binds us to the earth: not to an ideal world, but to the real one”. Hence the call to encounter “people in the flesh [...] Consecrate yourselves to them, without separating yourselves, without isolating yourselves, without making the gift you have received a kind of privilege”.

Leo XIV continues with a reference to the theme of ‘self-referentiality’ so dear to his predecessor Pope Francis, whom he quotes in his homily: ‘He warned us many times about this, because self-referentiality,’ the Pope emphasises, ‘extinguishes the fire of mission.’ This is followed by an exhortation to make ‘his words your own in every Eucharist: it is “for you and for all.”’

As children of God, he continues, there is no need to seek ‘any other power! The gesture of laying on of hands, with which Jesus welcomed children and healed the sick, renews in you,’ explains the Pope, "the liberating power of his messianic ministry. In the Acts of the Apostles, that gesture, which we are about to repeat, is the transmission of the creative Spirit.

Thus, the Kingdom of God now brings your personal freedoms into communion, ready to go out of yourselves, grafting your intelligence and your young strength into the jubilee mission that Jesus has entrusted to his Church."

The “secret” of every mission is the Holy Spirit who “has made you guardians” (Acts 20:28). Not masters, but guardians. The mission belongs to Jesus. He is risen, therefore he is alive and goes before us. None of us, the Pope admonishes the new priests, is called to replace him.

‘We bishops too, dear ordinands, by involving you in the mission today, are making room for you. And you make room for the faithful and for every creature, whom the Risen One is close to and in whom he loves to visit and amaze us. The people of God,’ he said, ‘are more numerous than we see. Let us not define their boundaries,’ with a reference to the missionary spirit that has always characterised the Church.

In the first passages of his homily, the Pope mentioned the ‘bonds’ between ‘you who are being ordained and the people from whom you come, of whom you remain a part and to whom you are sent,’ while ‘the identity of the priest depends on union with Christ, the supreme and eternal priest.’

"We are the people of God. The Second Vatican Council,‘ he warned, ’made this awareness more vivid, almost anticipating a time when belonging would become weaker and the sense of God more rarefied. You are witnesses to the fact that God has not grown weary of gathering his children, even though they are diverse, and of forming them into a dynamic unity‘ that is not ’impetuous action‘ but ’a gentle breeze that restores hope to the prophet Elijah in his hour of discouragement."

‘God's joy is not noisy, but it truly changes history and brings us closer to one another. The mystery of the Visitation, which the Church contemplates on the last day of May, is an icon of this,’ explains Leo XIV. From the encounter between the Virgin Mary and her cousin Elizabeth, we see the Magnificat spring forth, the song of a people visited by grace.‘

’The Risen Jesus,‘ concludes the Pope, ’shows us his wounds and, despite their being a sign of humanity's rejection, forgives us and sends us forth."