Cardinal Bertone tells papal diplomats they are primarily priests
January 18, 2013 - For a Vatican diplomat, what counts more is a life faith, rather
than a whole lot of expertise, knowledge and skills, which, no doubt, are important
for the job. In fact, a papal representative is primarily a priest, Vatican Secretary
of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone told priests at Rome’s Pontifical Ecclesiatical
Academy that trains personnel for the Holy See’s diplomatic missions. The prelate
made the comment during a vespers service at the Vatican institute on Thursday, to
mark the feast of St. Anthony the Abbot, the patron of the academy. “Like any other
form of priestly ministry,” Cardinal Bertone warned, “the service of the Holy See
diplomats can also run the risk of a form of addiction, or falling into the superficiality
of routine work or empty formality, which over time can end up being less attentive
to the supernatural dimension of daily work.