Cardinal Claudio Hummes on the Year for Priests

(May 27, 2009) Pope Benedict XVI has announced the Year for Prists to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the death of the saintly Curé of Ars, St. John Mary Vianney and it is to be inaugurated by the Holy Father on the 19th June, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is also a World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests. Cardinal Hummes, Prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy, said that it must be a year that is both positive and forward looking in which the Church says to her priests, to the Faithful and to wider society by means of the mass media, that she is proud of her priests, loves them, honours them, admires them and that she recognises with gratitude their pastoral work and the witness of the their life. He further added that the priests are important not only for what they do but also for who they are. It is true that a few priests have been involved in gravely problematic and unfortunate situations. But the overwhelming majority of priests, said the Prelate, are people of great personal integrity, dedicated to the sacred ministry; men of prayer and of pastoral charity, who fulfil their vocation and mission with great personal sacrifice, and have an authentic love towards Jesus Christ, the Church and the people, in solidarity with the poor and the suffering. He called all to appreciate the identity, theology of priesthood, and the meaning of the vocation and mission of priests. He added that the Holy Father intends “to encourage priests in this striving for spiritual perfection on which, above all, the effectiveness of their ministry depends”. The Pope in a special way invites all to pray for the priests based on Eucharistic spirituality.