During his Friday morning homily at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis suggested that bishops and priests must not fall into the temptation to 'live a double life.â? He added that they must avoid careerism.
POPE FRANCIS
'In the Church, too, there are these kinds of people, who instead of serving, of thinking of others, of laying the foundations, are served by the Church: â??climbers,â?? those who are attached to money. And how many priests and Bishops like this have we seen? Itâ??s sad to speak of it, isnâ??t it?
The Pope explained that a Church which doesn't serve will eventually become no different than a regular business. He said the Church must never stop being a place for service.
EXTRACTS FROM THE POPE'S HOMILY
(Source: Vatican Radio)
'I tell you how much joy I have,â? Pope Francis said, 'what moves me, when in this Mass some priests come up and greet me: â??O Father, I have come here to find my own people, because for forty years I have been a missionary in the Amazon.â?? Or a sister who says, â??No, I have worked for thirty years in a hospital in Africa.â?? Or when I find a little sister who for thirty, forty years is working in the department of the hospital with the disabled, always smiling. This is called â??serving,â?? this is the joy of the Church: going out to others, always; going out to others and giving life. This is what Paul did: serving.â?
'In the Church, too, there are these kinds of people, who instead of serving, of thinking of others, of laying the foundations, are served by the Church: â??climbers,â?? those who are attached to money. And how many priests and Bishops like this have we seen? Itâ??s sad to speak of it, isnâ??t it? The radical character of the Gospel, of the call of Jesus Christ: to serve, to be at the service [of others], of not stopping for oneself, going out to others always, being forgetful of oneself. And the comfort of the state: I have reached a certain state and I live comfortably, without integrity, like those Pharisees Jesus spoke about, who go out into the public square to be seen by others.â?
'Instead, when the Church is tepid, closed in on itself, businesslike, it cannot be said to be a Church that serves, that is at the service [of others], but rather [it must be said] that it is using others. May the Lord give us the grace He gave to Paul, that point of pride of always going forward, always, renouncing, time and again, its own comfort; and may He save us from temptations, from those temptations which at their base are temptations to a double life: I see myself as a minister, that is, as one who serves, but at the base I am served by others.â?
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