Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Great clamour followed the homily delivered by the Holy Father Benedict XVI, on Saturday 12 September in the Papal Basilica of St Peter, on the occasion of the Ordination of new Bishops. Clamour unjustified under certain aspects, but plausible under others. It is always necessary to remember that when Peter speaks, he addresses the whole Church and his Magisterium is always of a universal nature, which stems from the Pope's personal responsibility, and it is therefore inaccurate to attribute, to this or that intervention, specific references to situations or persons, or worse, to worldly political realities. Unfortunately public information tends, for reasons of news, to make these transfers, often attributing a direct intention to general discourses.
Another factor of interest was the media's reaction to certain statements which the Holy Father made, in a homily of great theological depth, as if they were a sort of “extraordinary revelation”, never before heard by anyone. Benedict XVI affirmed: “ Fidelity is altruism and, in this very way, liberating for the minister himself and for all who are entrusted to him. We know how in civil society and often also in the Church things suffer because many people on whom responsibility has been conferred work for themselves rather than for the community, for the common good. With a few strokes the Lord sketches an image of the wicked servant, who begins by grovelling and beating the workers, thereby betraying the essence of his responsibility. In Greek, the word for "fidelity" coincides with the word for "faith"”. Most newspapers focused on this sentence, overlooking the fact that the ' civil society ' was put first, and therefore, if there was any reference, this should really be understood as addressed to persons with responsibility in any field. Subsequently, there came two indications of extraordinary, prophetic courage concerning the Church: “often” and “many”. Given that the adjective “many” is referable both to civil society and to the Church, “often” is definitely a word of clear and unequivocal judgement, a firm call to conversion for the Shepherds of the universal Church, for all invested with responsibilities in the Church, but especially for the successors of the Apostles.
For a Father to reprimand his children is quite natural and physiological, it is a sign of his love and merciful charity for them. One might be surprised by a certain admission of “imperfection” within the Catholic hierarchy, and in fact this did make news, but for a Pontiff who, in non suspect times, boldly denounced “filth in the Church ” (Way of the Cross at the Colosseum, 2005), this should come as no surprise.
The point is that to exercise a ministry, but also any civil public responsibility, making use of others instead of serving them, brings unhappiness, first of all, to the one responsible for this attitude. Both in psycho-anthropological and gospel terms, we all know that selfishness and evil gradually suffocate those living in these conditions and, what is more, anyone who still needs power to affirm himself has never had the experience of 'being affirmed by God', affirmed and captured by that Good Mystery who makes all things and who, alone, constitutes Shepherds. The real concern, at the most, could be that of having persons constituted in responsibility but, still, uncertain about God's freely given love, so that they need to seek human, perhaps too human, footholds and gratification, under the illusion that these will provide the answer to their personal existential need.
True freedom, instead, is priceless! Freedom born of the joyous certainty of having God as one's only reference and guarantee for full personal realisation: in the humble and faithful fulfilment of His will, man finds himself and discovers unimaginable inward balance, which becomes capacity to give freely, putting aside with the help of grace, all human selfishness.
Let us continue to pray the master of the harvest that he may give us “shepherds after His own heart”, contemplators of Divine Mercy and therefore persons of deep balance, inward and outward. (Agenzia Fides 17/9/2009)
