During a gathering organized for the Year of Faith, Pope Francis asked
his ambassadors to be careful in helping to select candidates for the
episcopacy, making sure they are men of pastoral hearts.
“In the delicate task of carrying out inquiries for episcopal
appointments, be careful that the candidates are pastors close to the
people,” he told a gathering of apostolic nuncios from around the world
at the Vatican's Clementine Hall June 21.
“That they are gentle, patient and merciful; animated by inner poverty,
the freedom of the Lord, and also by outward simplicity and austerity of
life,” he added.
Hundreds of nuncios gathered at the Vatican for two days of prayer as
part of an initiative for the Year of Faith. The meeting had been
arranged by Benedict XVI and was announced in Oct. 2012 by Secretary of
State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone at the bishops' synod on the new
evangelization.
The asked his nuncios to choose bishops that do not to have “the
psychology of princes” or that are ambitious, ensuring that “they do not
seek the episcopate.”
The Bishop of Rome also suggested that it is not always best that
bishops be moved often from diocese to diocese. “Be careful … that they
are married to a (local) Church without being in constant search of
another.”
“That they are able to watch over the flock that will be entrusted to
them, take care to keep it united, vigilant of the dangers that threaten
it,” he advised.
“But above all that they are able to watch over the flock, to keep
watch, imbue hope, that they have sun and light in their hearts.”
Saint Joseph, spouse of the Virgin Mary, may be taken as a model for
bishops, he said, because of “his care for the family that God entrusted
to him.” Like St. Joseph, a bishop should “lovingly and patiently
support the plans which God brings about in his people.”
“Pastors must know how to be ahead of the herd to point the way, in the
midst of the flock to keep it united, behind the flock to prevent
someone being left behind,” reflected the Pope.
The Roman pontiff told his ambassadors that as his representatives,
their job is for “one who is really conscious of the fact that he
carries Christ with him,” quoting a former Vatican secretary of state.
“I do not want to address purely formal or perfunctory words to you;
what I now say comes from deep within my heart,” he assured them.
The Pope underscored that “giving in to worldly spirit exposes us pastors to ridicule.”
“There is always the danger … to surrender to what I call, taking an
expression from De Lubac, 'spiritual worldliness': to surrender to the
spirit of the world, which leads to action for self-fulfillment and not
for the glory of God,” reflected the Bishop of Rome.
This spiritual worldliness, he called a “sort of 'bourgeoisie spirit and
life' which leads people to settle, and seek a peaceful and comfortable
life.
Pope Francis said that Blessed John XXIII, who himself served in the
Vatican's diplomatic corps for 28 years, found that “he had to
continually prune the vineyard of his life from that which was merely
useless foliage and go straight to the essentials, which is Christ and
his Gospel; otherwise there was the risk of ridiculing a holy mission.”
The Pope noted the “nomadic” quality of their life, stressing the
challenges of never being able to put down roots, never having their own
flock, always having to begin anew in different cultures, “always with a
suitcase at hand.”
Pope Francis said this is a sign of the pilgrim nature of the Christian life, always journeying towards our heavenly home.
A primary element in this, he said, was the “mortification” of
“stripping oneself of things, friends, bonds, and of always beginning
anew.”
The pontiff said their life is “of great worth when lived with an intensity of love.”
“We know that our stability does not lie in things, in our own projects
or ambitions, but in being true pastors who keep our gaze fixed on
Christ.”
“Goods, the prospects of this world, end up disappointing. They push
people to never be satisfied,” he told the diplomats. “The Lord is the
good that does not disappoint.”
He noted that this focus on the Lord “demands a self-detachment that can
only be achieved through a constant relationship with the Lord and the
unification of one’s life around Christ.”
“Familiarity with Jesus Christ must be the daily food of the papal
representative because it is the food that comes from the memory of our
first encounter with him, and also because it is the daily expression of
loyalty to his call.”
“Always do everything with deep love!” he exclaimed. “Always seek the
good, the good of all, the good of the Church and of every person.”