Posted on 07/12/2021 5:59:17 PM PDT by marshmallow
If a priest 'does not care about souls, he becomes useless.'
ROME, July 8, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — An eminent African cardinal has strongly emphasized the identity of the Catholic priest as the caretaker of souls.
“Today we speak little about the Gospel and we don’t speak about souls anymore,” Cardinal Robert Sarah, the former Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, said in a recent interview.
“Pastoral care today is concerned principally with the body, life, material things,” he added.
“Thus, when Jesus says, ‘What does it profit a man that he should gain the whole world but lose his soul’, all the modern translations say ‘but lose his own life’ (Matt 16:26).”
The cardinal pointed out that the Latin words of the pious centurion “and my soul shall be healed,” repeated by Catholics before Holy Communion, have been rendered “and I will be saved” in Italian.
“The priest has the care of souls,” Sarah stated firmly.
“If he does not care about souls, he becomes useless. This means, for a priest, to take care of others, to be a ‘curate’ [curato, curé], like St. John Vianney.”
Sarah granted a half-hour interview to journalist Lorenzo Bertocchi that appeared in this month’s issue of the Italian Catholic Il Timone (“The Helm”) magazine, answering questions about the crisis in the contemporary priesthood, priestly celibacy, and priestly identity, among other subjects.
(Excerpt) Read more at lifesitenews.com ...
Ping
Brian Moore hit it out of the park when he wrote “Catholics” 50 years ago.
An unfortunate example is being set by Pope Francis, who operates like a politician-at-large rather than a saver of souls.
for later.
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