Pope meets Vatican nuncios

21 June, 2013 - The life of a Vatican diplomat is like that of a nomad who is on a constant pilgrimage of faith without fixed roots like Abraham, but whose eyes are fixed on the promised good. This is the image that Pope Francis evoked, when he spoke on Friday to some 150 Holy See’s representatives known as Apostolic Nuncios, Apostolic Delegates or Permanent Observers from across the world who gathered in the Vatican for a 2-day event in the current Year of Faith. This promised good, the Pope explained, is the Lord on whom the Fathers of the Old Testament had their eyes from far. “The goods and the prospects of this world end up deluding and can never satisfy us,” the Pope said. “But the Lord is a good that does not delude, and this demands a detachment from the self that can be achieved only with constant relationship with the Lord and unifying our life around Christ,” the Pope said. Familiarity with Jesus Christ, the Pope continued, must be the daily food of the Papal Representative, because it is the food that is born of his first encounter with Him and because it also is the daily expression of loyalty to His call. This familiarity with Jesus Christ is expressed in prayer, in the celebration of the Eucharist and in the service of charity. The Holy Father warned against the danger of “spiritual worldliness’, which consists in giving in to the spirit of the world that leads to the realization of the self, and not the glory of God. This, he described, as a sort of "bourgeois spirit and life" which compels one to settle down into an easy and tranquil life. “Giving in to the spirit of the world exposes us Pastors to ridicule,” the Pope warned, reminding the representatives they are pastors and the presence of Christ to the world.
Vatican Nuncios also have the delicate task of inquiring into the lives of future bishops and advising the Pope in his appointments. In this regard the Pope advised the Papal representatives to ensure that future bishops 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”.