Pope Leo XIV offered three brief suggestions to two groups of priests he met at the Vatican on Friday morning, saying a “solid and integral formation” is essential for all Catholic faithful but especially for those who give Christian formation.
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In his July 25 address to priests belonging to the Society of St. Xavier and participants of a monthlong seminary formators course at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, the Holy Father said the main purpose of formation is to have “the same mind” as Jesus Christ and “reflect the Gospel.”
“Indeed, it is necessary that the ‘house’ of our life and vocational journey, whether priestly or lay, be founded on ‘rock,’” the pope said Friday.
The formation of priests, laypeople, and consecrated men and women, Leo said, is not “limited to specialized knowledge” but involves “a continuous journey of conversion.”
The Holy Father’s first suggestion to build a rock-solid formation was to cultivate a “friendship with Jesus.”
“This is the foundation of the house, which must lie at the heart of every vocation and apostolic mission,” he said. “We need personally to experience the closeness of the Master; to know that we have been seen, loved, and chosen by the Lord by pure grace and without merit on our part.”
The Augustinian pope’s second suggestion for Catholic formators was to live an “effective and affective fraternity” with others.
“It is necessary to learn to live as brothers within the presbyterate as well as in religious communities and with our bishops and superiors,” he said.
“We must work hard on ourselves in order to overcome individualism and the desire to overtake others, which makes us competitors, so that we learn gradually to build human and spiritual relationships that are both healthy and fraternal,” he continued.
Before concluding his Friday meeting with the group of priests, the Holy Father gave his third and final suggestion: “to share the mission with all the baptized.”
The pope said priests should not view themselves as “lone leaders” or live their ordained ministry with a “sense of superiority” but to be pastors who are “immersed in the reality of the people of God.”
“During the first centuries of the Church, it was usual for all the faithful to be like missionary disciples and to commit themselves personally to evangelization,” Leo explained. “The ordained ministry was at the service of this mission shared by all.”
“Today, we feel strongly that we must return to this participation of all the baptized in witnessing to and proclaiming the Gospel,” he said.
This article was originally published by CNA.
