Papal nuncio challenges US bishops to have ‘total love’ for the Church

November 18, 2009

Calling the US bishops assembled in Baltimore to a “total love” for the Church, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to United States of America, reminded the bishops that “the first characteristic which the Lord requires of his servant is fidelity.” Continuing to quote from a homily by Pope Benedict, Archbishop Sambi said:

He has been entrusted with a great good that does not belong to him. The Church is not our Church but his Church, the Church of God. The servant must account for how he has managed the good that has been entrusted to him. We do not bind people to us; we do not seek power, prestige, or esteem for ourselves. We lead men and women toward Jesus Christ, hence toward the loving God. In doing so, we introduce them into truth and into freedom, which derives from truth. Fidelity is altruism and, in this very way, liberating for the minister himself and for all who are entrusted to him. We know how in civil society, and often also in the Church, things suffer because many people on whom responsibility has been conferred, work for themselves rather than for the community, for the common good.

Archbishop Sambi also urged the bishops to promote both priestly and women’s religious vocations.

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---

 
Further information:

• Papal Nuncio's General Assembly Address (USCCB)