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Pope Leo XIV urges priests and laity to do less and do it better
Confirmed
In Short: In a speech to diocesan leaders, the pope emphasized the importance of discernment and evaluation in church practices.
Pope Leo XIV addressed diocesan leaders, both clergy and laity, during a diocesan assembly, urging them to focus on discernment and evaluation rather than increasing their workload.
The pope referred to a diocesan report delivered to him in 2018, which identified various 'spiritual illnesses' within the church, highlighting the need for healing, correction, and transformation.
Pope Leo emphasized the importance of understanding the reasons behind their choices and their outcomes, stating that this would help them recognize what should be maintained, valued, corrected, abandoned, or initiated.
The pope outlined four priorities for their method of discernment, asking if their actions truly lead to Christ and help others encounter him in their real lives.
What's confirmed
- Pope Leo XIV addressed diocesan leaders, both clergy and laity, during a diocesan assembly, urging them to focus on discernment and evaluation rather than increasing their workload.
- The pope referred to a diocesan report delivered to him in 2018, which identified various 'spiritual illnesses' within the church, highlighting the need for healing, correction, and transformation.
- Pope Leo emphasized the importance of understanding the reasons behind their choices and their outcomes, stating that this would help them recognize what should be maintained, valued, corrected, abandoned, or initiated.
- The pope outlined four priorities for their method of discernment, asking if their actions truly lead to Christ and help others encounter him in their real lives.
What's still developing
- ROME (CNS) — Led by their priests, Catholics need to come together and face the truth about what their local church is doing and why, Pope Leo XIV told clergy and laypeople in his diocese.
- This process of discernment and “pastoral evaluation does not ask you to do more; on the contrary, it gives you permission to do less — and to do it better,” the pope, who is bishop of Rome, said to applause.
- The diocese’s extensive work on discerning its “‘spiritual illnesses’ has taught us to recognize what, in our ecclesial life, needs to be healed, corrected or transformed,” he said, referring to a diocesan report that was formally delivered to Pope Francis in 2018.
- The leaders represented the 334 parishes and their ministries in a diocese that covers 340 square miles.
- The pope first listened to a young woman, a couple and a member of the diocese’s Caritas team as they recounted the various joys and challenges they face in their lives and work.
- “Over the coming days, we will have the opportunity to share our perspectives on these realities, not in a spirit of judgment or confrontation but rather out of the pastoral responsibility that falls to us as shepherds,” the bishop of Cuernavaca said.
- The bishops discussed the pastoral challenges facing the Church in North America as a whole and concelebrated a Mass on Aug.
- Concelebrating alongside various priests, along with Flores, were Bishop Oscar Cantú of San José, California, chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee on Hispanic/Latino Affairs; and Bishop Pierre Goudreault of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.