(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received new Bishops from around the world in audience
today in Rome. The audience marked the end of the annual Conference for New Bishops,
which provides formation and orientation for men who have been elevated to the episcopate
each year.
Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops
and Cardinal Leonardi Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches
were also in attendance at the Conference, along with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle,
the Archbishop of Manila.
In his address to the new Bishops, Pope Francis
said the worldwide episcopate forms a “unique body” that gives direction to the Bishops
in their daily work and presses them to ask themselves “how to live the spirit of
collegiality and collaboration in the Episcopate? how to be builders of communion
an unity in the Church the Lord has entrusted” to them. He reminded them that “the
Bishop is a man of communion and unity, the ‘visible principle and foundation of unity’
(Lumen gentium, 27).”
The Holy Father offered some reflections on a
passage from the first Letter of Saint Peter: “Tend the flock of God in your midst,
[overseeing] not by constraint but willingly, as God would have it, not for shameful
profit but eagerly. Do not lord it over those assigned to you, but be examples to
the flock (1 Pt 5,2-3).” These words, he said, “are carved on the heart! They call
you and establish you as Pastors not from yourselves, but from the Lord; and not to
serve yourselves, but to serve the flock entrusted to you, to serve it even to the
point of giving your life, like Christ, the Good Shepherd.”
But, he asked,
what does it mean to tend the flock, to have “habitual and daily care of the flock”
(Lumen gentium, 27)?” To tend the flock, Pope Francis said, means: to welcome
with magnanimity, to journey with the flock, to remain with the flock.
1. To
welcome with magnanimity: “When someone knocks at the door of your house,” the Pope
asked, “what do they find?” If the door is open, he continued, “they will experience
the paternity of God and understand how the Church is a good mother that always loves
and welcomes them.”
2. To journey with the flock: Pope Francis explained that
Bishops must be welcoming to everyone in order to journey with everyone. The Bishop,
he said, journeys with and among his flock. He focused especially on
three points with regard to this journey.
First, the Pope said, a bishop must
have affection for their priests. Priests are the people closest to the Bishop. “Time
spent with your priests is never lost!” he said. “Receive them when they call on you,
do not let a phone call go unanswered, always be close to them, in continual contact
with them.” In off-the-cuff remarks he insisted that if a priest calls his Bishop,
the Bishop should respond the same day, or at most the next day, and that the Bishop
should always find a way to make time for priests who want to see him.
The
second point is presence in the diocese. Reminding the Bishops of his call that Pastors
must have “the odour of the sheep,” the Pope told the Bishops their presence among
their people “is not secondary, it is indispensable!” He called on them, to “go down
into the midst of your faithful, even to the edges of your dioceses and into all those
‘existential peripheries’ where there is suffering, solitude, loss of human dignity.”
His third point referred to the “style” of service. He called for Bishops
to serve with humility, which he described as a certain austerity and a focus on what
is essential. We Pastors, he said, must not have "the psychology of Princes." He complained
of "ambitious men, men that are married to this Church, but hoping for a more beautiful
or a richer [Church]. This is a scandal!" he said, describing the desire for a bigger
or better diocese as a kind of "spiritual adultery." He warned the Bishops not to
fall into the "spirit of careerism," which he called "a cancer."
Pope Francis
spoke finally about a third element of tending the flock: remaining with the flock.
“I refer to stability,” he said, “which has two precise aspects – ‘to remain’ in the
diocese, and ‘to remain’ in this diocese, without seeking change or promotion.”
In an age when travelling has become very easy, the Holy Father said “the ancient
law of residence hasn’t passed out of fashion.” Residence in the diocese is not only
functional, he insisted, but has deep theological roots. “Avoid the scandal of being
‘airport bishops!’” he said.
"Be welcoming Pastors," he concluded, "journeying
with your people, with affection, with mercy, with sweetness of expression and paternal
firmness, with humility and discretion, being able to see your own limitations, and
with a good sense of humor . . . and remain with your flock!”
As he concluded
his address, Pope Francis asked the Bishops to greet their communities on his behalf,
“especially the priests, men and women religious, the seminarians, all the faithful,
and those most in need of the nearness of the Lord.” With two Syrian Bishops in attendance,
the Holy Father once more prayed for the gift of peace: “Peace for Syria, peace for
the Middle East, peace for the world!”
At the end of his talk, the Pope asked
the assembled Bishops “Remember to pray for me, as I do for you.” He concluded by
invoking the Apostolic Blessing “from the heart” upon each of the new Bishops and
upon their communities.