World’s priests join Pope Benedict at vigil

(June 11, 2010) Meeting some 10,000 priests from around the world on Thursday evening, Pope Benedict XVI expressed the church's gratitude for their ministry and encouraged them to resist the influences of secularization. At a vigil in St. Peter's Square marking the end of the Year for Priests, the pope said the clergy shortage cannot be solved by turning the priesthood into merely "a normal profession, a job," and added that today's priests need to be on fire with love for Christ. While he did not explicitly speak of clerical sex abuse cases, he appeared to refer to the crisis when he defended priestly celibacy. He said celibacy was a scandal for the world because it anticipates eternal life with God, a reality rejected by many people today. The role of the faith, he said, is to announce this "great scandal" of God's place in their lives, a task that is made more difficult by the "secondary scandals of our own inadequacies and sins." He asked for prayers that God would free the church from such sins. The evening encounter featured testimonials from priests working around the world. When the pope arrived and rode his ‘popemobile’ through the vast crowd, he was greeted with a standing ovation. Answering five questions posed by priests, the pope began by expressing his appreciation for their work and his sympathy for the problems they face in ministering to populations that are increasingly large and fragmented. He said today's priests must not try to do everything, but should focus their energies in key areas, namely, providing the Eucharist and the sacraments, preaching well, and helping the poor and suffering. He urged them not to neglect their own spiritual lives and, when needed, to "find the humility and the courage to rest." He spoke beneath a banner portrait of St. John Vianney, patron of parish priests. The pope proclaimed the yearlong focus on priestly ministry to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the saint's death. Pope Benedict told the priests that the church must make clear to an often skeptical world that its practices are not designed to close priests off from people, but to direct them toward others. All week long, priests from more than 90 countries filled the streets of Rome, attending liturgies and conferences preached by leading cardinals on important issues of priestly life at major churches in the city. They spent most of their time praying, listening and sharing experiences.