Pope stresses evangelization at meeting with priests of Rome

September 16, 2013

Pope Francis held a 2-hour meeting with the priests of the Rome diocese on September 16, exhorting them to recognize their role as ministers of the sacraments rather than bureaucrats or social workers.

The Pope held his annual meeting with the clergy of Rome in the basilica of St. John Lateran. The meeting was not open to the media, and the Vatican did not issue an official report on copy of the Pope’s extemporaneous remarks. However the Pope based his remarks to the priest on the Aparecida Document, which he had helped prepare for the Latin American bishops’ conference CELAM.

In that document, the Latin American bishops observed that traditional models of catechesis were no longer producing good results, and new forms of evangelization are needed. “To become once again a Church driven by evangelical momentum and audacity, we must again become faithful and evangelized disciples,” the document said.

After his speech, the Pope took a number of questions from the priests.

 

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Further information:

• Pope Francis to Rome priests: "never settle for simple administration" (Vatican Radio)
• Priests to Face Epoch Change as a Challenge to Seek the Remote (VIS)