Pope Francis attended the 17th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 25. In his speech, he emphasized that the Church is the holy and faithful people of God and can never make mistakes in its faith. At the same time, he also denounced clericalism and pointed out the various manifestations of clericalism in the church.
(Vatican News Network) On the afternoon of October 25, the Pope proposed some reflection points to all participants of the 17th session of the World Bishops Conference: for example, women are the “reflection” of the maternal face of the Church; priests and the specially customized luxury The “bad praise” of priestly attire and the “macho and autocratic” attitude; the Church becoming a “super mall of salvation” with clearly marked prices for the sacraments; and clericalism like a “whip” that “spoils” “Holy people of God. Rather, the People of God are “saints and sinners”, “infallible in their faith”, and they are forced to endure “the harshness and rejection of clericalism” with great “patience”.
The Church is God’s faithful people
First of all, the Pope emphasized: “I like to think of the Church as the faithful people of God, saints and sinners alike, a people called together by the power of the Beatitudes and Matthew 25.” The Pope Says: “Jesus for His Church did not adopt any of the political programs of His day: not Pharisee, not Sadducee, not Essene, not fanatical radical. Not “hermetic” community; He simply inherited the tradition of Israel: ‘You shall be my people, and I will be your God.’ “
saints and sinners
“I like to think of the Church as a simple, humble people who walk before the Lord,” the pope continued. “Holy and sinful”, but “faithful” people. “I say faithful people to avoid falling into the many temptations and ideological schemes that can ‘diminish’ the reality of the People of God.”
Don’t make mistakes in your beliefs
One of the characteristics of the People of God is her inerrancy: “Yes, it must be said: inerrancy in faith…”. As the Lumen Gentium says, “You cannot err in faith.” The Pope said: When you want to know what the Mother Church has to say, read the Magisterium of the Church, but if you want to know what the Church believes, then turn to her people. “
The Pope pointed out that this faithful people “have a soul”, “because we can talk about the soul of a nation, we can talk about a method of interpretation, a way of looking at reality, a consciousness. This is a “respect for dignity” “Consciousness” manifests itself in our actions such as baptizing children and burying the dead.
Faith passed down from mother and grandmother
The Pope emphasized that the members of the Church’s hierarchy come from this people from whom they received their faith. As on many other occasions, the Pope often spoke of mothers and grandmothers: “Your mother and your grandmother,” Paul said to Timothy, “faith is transmitted in the language of women.” The Pope emphasized: “I I really like to say that among the holy people of God, the faith is always spread in the vernacular, and usually in the language of women. This is not just because the Church is the Mother, and women embody this best. “
“The Church is female because women know how to wait, know how to discover the resources of the Church and its faithful people, they push themselves beyond their limits, fearful perhaps, but fearless, approaching the grave at dawn, following their instincts To think that there might be something still alive. Woman is a reflection of the Church, the Church is female, she is the bride and the mother.”
Price List for Sacramental Liturgy
Therefore, the Pope lamented: “When clergy go too far in their service and treat God’s people harshly, they tarnish the face of the Church, they destroy it with their machismo and arbitrary attitude .” In some parish offices, it’s like a supermarket. You can see the “price list” of sacramental services, which is really uncomfortable. The Church is either God’s faithful people on the road, saints and sinners, or she ends up being a company providing a variety of services. When pastoral workers take this second path, the Church becomes a supermarket of salvation and the priests are merely employees of multinational corporations. This is a “colossal failure” caused by clericalism.
The “whip” and “scourge” of clericalism
The Pope expressed the same bitterness, or rather “sorrow”, for the “young priests” who “try on caftans, hats or lace robes” in church tailors, calling it “a bad compliment”. “Clericalism is a whip, a scourge, a form of worldliness that stains and mars the face of God’s Bride and enslaves God’s holy and faithful people,” the pope said.
Despite this, the People of God “continue to move forward with patience and humility”. “With what patience do they tolerate the waste, harshness and exclusion of institutionalized clericalism!” lamented the Pope. “How naturally we talk about ‘authoritative figures in the Church’, or view episcopal promotions as career advancement! World and the horrors of the world spoil the faithful and holy people of God.”
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2023-10-26 11:40:57
