By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY — In a world marked by growing tension, priests need to build peace and unity together by serving others, Pope Leo XIV said.
When hearts are united with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, they are capable of resolving “not only our inner conflicts but also those that are tearing apart the world in which we live,” he said in a written message to the world’s priests, released June 27, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which is also the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests.
In the one-page message to his “brothers in the priesthood,” Pope Leo invited them to renew the “yes” they said to God and to his holy people on the day of their ordination, so they “may be a sacrament of Jesus’ love in the world.”
“Do not be daunted by your personal frailty: the Lord does not look for perfect priests, but for humble hearts that are open to conversion and prepared to love others as he himself loved us,” he wrote.
The heart of Christ, pierced for love, is “the true nature of our ministry,” he wrote. “Consumed by God’s mercy, we become joyful witnesses of his love that heals, accompanies and redeems.”
“Today’s solemnity thus renews in our own hearts the call to be completely committed to the service of God’s holy people,” he wrote.
Also, “only in the heart of Jesus do we discover our authentic humanity as children of God, brothers and sisters of one another,” the pope wrote. Therefore, he said, “I would make this heartfelt appeal to you today: Be builders of unity and peace!”
“In a world marked by growing tensions, even within families and ecclesial communities, priests are called to promote reconciliation and foster communion,” he wrote.
“Building unity and peace demands that we be pastors capable of wise discernment, skilled in the art of piecing together the fragments of the lives entrusted to our care, so that we can enable people to see the light of the Gospel in the midst of life’s trials,” he said in his message.
“It calls for the ability to understand and interpret complex situations, and to rise above immediate emotions, fears and the pressure of passing fashions,” he wrote. “It means providing pastoral solutions that generate and regenerate faith by building good relationships, bonds of solidarity and communities in which the style of communion shines forth.”
“Being builders of unity and peace means serving and not domineering,” the pope wrote. “Priestly fraternity becomes a credible sign of the presence of the Risen Lord in our midst precisely when it is the hallmark of our shared journey as priests.”
“Throughout this Holy Year, in which all of us are called to be pilgrims of hope, our ministry will be all the more fruitful the more it is rooted in prayer and forgiveness, and in closeness to the poor, to families and to young people who are searching for truth,” he wrote. “Never forget that a holy priest makes holiness flourish around him.”
