Mercy should guide all pastoral work, Pope tells new bishops
September 16, 2016
Speaking to newly appointed bishops on September 16, Pope Francis said: “The most precious richness you can bring from Rome at the beginning of your episcopal ministry is the awareness of the mercy with which you have been seen and chosen.”
The Pope told the prelates-- who were participating in a course of new bishops, organized by the Congregation for Bishops with the Congregation for Eastern Churches-- that all of their work should be guided by the desire to "make mercy pastoral."
"This does not mean lowering our standards or giving away our pearls," the Pope said. He encouraged the bishops to pursue "beauty, truth, love, and goodness." Breaking from his prepared text, he remarked that "the world is tired of enchanting liars-- that is, fashionable priests of fashionable bishops."
Pope Francis instructed the bishops to pay particular attention to the formation of their priests, and to show "firm and tender fatherhood" in care for seminarians.
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