Only one thing bugs me the Cardinal said.....”giving us a new Shepherd”.
The Lord is thy Shepard. There can be no other Shepard....perhaps an assistant Shepard, as I see true Pastors, Priests and Reverends.
As I stated, I am not catholic so maybe those words mean something else that I am not aware of.
Any catholics out there that can explain what he meant?
I'm not asking to cause trouble, just to understand. I and my fellow believers are very excited at having such a humble Pope.
And He is our Shepherd, as well. The terminology is often applied to the pope who "shepherds" the flock to Jesus Christ. Today, the newly elected pontiff met with the media. The pontiff told the professionals that Jesus is the center of the Church and not himself. “Without him, Peter and the Church would not exist nor would they have a reason for existing,” he said.
Thank you for the question. God bless you!
I understand your confusion, but recall that in Protestant churches it is also common to refer to the religious leader as “pastor.” Pastor is the Latin for shepherd. Both in the Old Testament and in the New, there are references to shepherds caring for believers as for a flock. Men are directed by the Lord to shepherd their people. So there is no impropriety here, no usurpation of a title reserved to the Lord Jesus.