By editor - 22 June, 2013
Never forget you are “Pastors”, who “carry Christ to the world”, detached from the “bourgeoisie spirit and life” of those who pursue only worldly goods and which “risk ridiculing the holy mission” of Papal Representatives.
This was Pope Francis message to the hundreds of Papal Representatives, also known as Apostolic Nuncios, convoked to the Vatican from their diplomatic postings across the globe for two days of reflection and prayer in the context of the Year of Faith.
The Holy Father spoke with them Friday, in a lengthy address which he said came “from the heart”, and was not just one of “perfunctory words”. The Pope began by telling the them that they are an expression of the catholicity and universality of the Church.
Pope Francis spoke of their life, describing it as ‘nomadic’ and underpinning the challenges this temporary mode of living brings: never being able to put down roots; never having their own ‘flock’ to guide and tend to; always having to begin anew in different national and ecclesial contexts, in short, living with a suitcase at hand.
But above all, Pope Francis dwelt on what is a Nuncio’s most important service, “the delicate task of carrying out inquires” into candidates to become bishops. He said that candidates must be “close to the people, fathers and brothers…gentle, patient and merciful; animated by inner poverty, the freedom of the Lord and also by outward simplicity and austerity of life”. Pope Francis added they must not have “the psychology of “Princes”, or be “ambitious”.
And thanking the Nuncios for their precious service to the Church Pope Francis concluded : “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”.
(Vatican Radio)
