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Pope Benedict XVI declared a year of the priest
in an effort to encourage "spiritual perfection" in priests. The pope will
open the special year with a vespers service at the Vatican June 19 --
the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the day for the sanctification
of priests. He will close the celebrations during a World Meeting of Priests
in St. Peter's Square June 19, 2010.
During this jubilee year, the pope will also proclaim St. John Vianney to be patron saint of all the world's priests. At present he is considered the patron saint of parish priests. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the death of this 19th-century saint who represents a "true example of a priest at the service of the flock of Christ," the pope said. St. John Vianney is widely known to Catholics as the Cure (parish priest) of Ars who won over the hearts of his villagers in France by visiting with them, teaching them about God and reconciling people to the Lord in the confessional. In his address, Pope Benedict said the priestly ministry consists of total adherence to the ecclesial tradition of participating "in a spiritually intense new life and a new lifestyle which was inaugurated by the Lord Jesus and which the apostles made their own." Priestly ordination creates new men who are bestowed with the gift and office of sanctifying, teaching and governing, he said. The pope underlined the necessary and "indispensable struggle for moral perfection which must dwell in every authentically priestly heart." |