ROME — ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV doubled down on Friday on his attraction for solidarity within the polarized Catholic Church, urging clergymen to behave in communion with their superiors and be fashions of reconciliation in a global pushed through conflicts and divisions.
Leo appealed for solidarity in a triptych of messages to clergymen who’re celebrating a distinct Holy 12 months week in Rome devoted to clergy. He hosted a distinct assembly on Thursday afternoon, celebrated an ordination Mass on Friday morning and likewise delivered a written message to clergymen around the globe.
Throughout the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, Leo ordained 32 new clergymen and recalled his attraction for solidarity all the way through his set up Mass proper after his Might 8 election.
“Nowadays, I proportion this need over again with all of you,” he mentioned. He quoted St. Augustine – the muse of his Augustinian spiritual order – in repeating the phrases he mentioned at the night time of his election: “For you I’m a bishop, with you I’m a Christian.”
Throughout the conferences that preceded the conclave that elected the primary American pope in historical past, cardinals made transparent their hope that the following pontiff would heal one of the divisions throughout the church that deepened all the way through the past due Pope Francis’ radical 12-year preach.
Francis’ revolutionary social justice priorities, his casual taste, liturgical looseness and disdain for the capitalist financial device frequently alienated conservatives, specifically in Leo’s local United States, who begged for a brand new pope who may pacify divisions.
Leo’s constant connection with solidarity within the church suggests he has heard the ones appeals and is operating to reply.
In a message to clergymen around the globe Friday, Leo presented encouragement in his attraction for solidarity, now not a browbeating as Francis frequently gave clergymen.
“In a global marked through rising tensions, even inside households and ecclesial communities, clergymen are known as to advertise reconciliation and foster communion,” Leo mentioned. He added that clergymen must now not be frightened of their very own weaknesses. “The Lord does now not search for highest clergymen, however for humble hearts which can be open to conversion and ready to like others as he himself cherished us,” he mentioned.
He gave a identical message Thursday to 1000’s of clergymen who accrued in a Vatican-area auditorium for a Jubilee rally that ended with Leo giving English-language shoutouts to clergymen from quite a lot of portions of the sector, together with his local Chicago.
Within the come upon, Leo stated the “disaster” in priestly vocations, which were falling constantly in historically Christian portions of the sector for years at the same time as the total international Catholic inhabitants grows.
In step with Vatican statistics, there have been 407,730 clergymen globally on the finish of 2022, down 142 from the former yr. Europe noticed the best decline, shedding 2,745 clergymen — a determine that used to be handiest compensated for globally through the addition of one,676 clergymen in Africa and 1,160 in Asia.
“Thanks for who you might be, and remind everybody that it’s stunning to be a clergyman,” he mentioned. “We aren’t highest, however we’re pals of Christ … and that’s sufficient.”
___
Related Press faith protection receives strengthen in the course of the AP’s collaboration with The Dialog US, with investment from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is just answerable for this content material.
