Pope Francis tells world’s parish priests: The Church could not go on without you

May 10, 2024

VATICAN: “The Church could not continue without your dedication and your pastoral service.” With these words, Pope Francis expressed his deep gratitude to parish priests worldwide in a letter addressed to the clergy.

The Holy Father presented this letter to 300 priests attending the Synod on Synodality’s “World Meeting of Parish Priests” at a gathering in the Vatican on May 2. During this meeting, he remarked that it was “an opportunity to hold in my prayers all the parish priests globally to whom I extend these words with great affection.”

The Pope expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the tireless efforts of the priests to spread the Gospel across the globe. He acknowledged the wide range of challenges these pastors face and noted that their diverse perspectives and experiences greatly enrich the process of synodality.

Parish priests, he insisted, know from within the life of God’s People, including their joys, hardships, resources and needs.

“For this reason, a synodal Church needs its parish priests,” the Pope stressed, saying that without priests, we will never be able to learn how to walk together and to set out on the path of synodality.

“If parishes are not synodal and missionary, neither,” he warned, “will the Church be.”

Pastors, the Holy Father encouraged, are called to accompany the communities they serve in the synodal process, while, at the same time, committing themselves with prayer, discernment and apostolic zeal.

The Lord, the Pope said, asks us today to listen to the voice of his Spirit and to advance in the direction that He points out to us. “Of one thing we can be sure: he will never leave us without his grace.”

Pope Francis went on to offer three suggestions to inspire parish priests in their activity and mission.

First, the Pope urged them to live out their specific ministerial charism in ever greater service to the varied gifts that the Spirit sows in the People of God.

“It is urgent to discover with faith, the many and varied charismatic gifts of the laity, which are indispensable for evangelising any number of human situations and contexts,” he said, expressing his conviction, that, in doing so, they will bring to light “many hidden treasures,” and “feel less alone in the demanding task of evangelisation.”

“You will experience the joy of being true fathers, who do not dominate others,” he said, “but rather bring out in them, men and women alike, great and precious possibilities.”

Second, he urged them to learn to practise the art of communal discernment, employing for this purpose the method of “conversation in the Spirit”, which has proved so helpful in the synodal journey and in the proceedings of the synodal Assembly itself.

“I am certain that you will reap from it many good fruits, not only in structures of communion such as parish councils,” he said, “but in many other fields as well.”

Third and finally, the Pope urged them to base everything they do on a spirit of sharing and fraternity among themselves and with their bishops.

“We cannot be authentic fathers unless we are first sons and brothers,” he said, “And we cannot foster communion and participation in the communities entrusted to our care,” he continued, “unless, before all else, we live out those realities among ourselves.”

Both the synodal and missionary Church and the ongoing process of the 2021- 2024 Synod, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission” needs parish priests and their voice, the Pope emphasised.

Therefore, the Pope invited those who have taken part in the International Meeting “Parish Priests for the Synod” to be missionaries of synodality, first, among themselves and, once they return home, with their fellow parish priests.

“Dear brothers, I am at your side in this process, in which I myself am taking part,” the Holy Father reassured. Pope Francis concluded by imparting upon them his Apostolic Blessing, asking for their prayers, and encouraging them to stay close to Our Lady who always shows us the way. — Agencies