· Vatican City ·

WOMEN CHURCH WORLD

He should always be, and without exception, a pastor

28 September 2024

First of all, I would ask the priest to be in love with Jesus and to tirelessly seek Him with the Church in the Word, in the Eucharist, and in encounters with the poor. 

I would like a priest who, together with his community, breaks the Bread and the Word and seeks the co-responsibility of everyone, while valuing every charism and accompanying the laity in every aspect of their ecclesial, family, social, and political lives. I believe that every priest should always and in any case also be a pastor, even if he studies, teaches, directs a seminary, assists an association, or has a responsibility in the curia. It would be beneficial for him to always be part of a community where he can share his life with everyone else. 

I would like him to see himself as a conductor interpreting the score of ecclesial communion, while valuing every instrument to create harmony. In short, I would like a priest freed from every temptation of clericalism. 

Have I encountered such priests in my life? 

Yes, certainly in my youth, when the Council called for a deep change from all of us. My parish priest and assistant of the Catholic Action resembled much the priest I would like. 

Over the years, I have met others who have been very important in my life. 

In recent years, apart from some significant exceptions, I often find young priests who are closed off, and very possessive of their priestly prerogatives—in other words, somewhat clerical and inclined to equate the community with their function. 

In some of them, I sense a bit of human fragility, a lack of knowledge of the Council, and a fear of building a Church open to the world, had reached out to the peripheries of humanity. 

Today, it is certainly more challenging to be a Church, but this is the time in history that we are given to experience and to practice faith, hope, and charity. 

by Rosy Bindi
Italian politician, professor at the Pontifical Antonianum University