"The bishop is not the self-sufficient 'father' and not even the frightened and isolated 'Lone shepherd.'"
This is why the bishop must be aware of the great gift, the "Spiritus Principalis" entrusted to him at his ordination, the Pope said.
It is perhaps for this reason that the Church, in the episcopal consecration prayer, derived an expression from the Miserere in which the person praying, after exposing his failure, implores the Spirit to grant him immediate and spontaneous generosity in obedience to God, "so fundamental to those who lead a community."
"Discernment, therefore, is born in the heart and mind of the bishop through his prayer when he meets people and situations entrusted to him with the Divine Word pronounced by the Spirit," he said.
It is in the intimacy of prayer that a bishop grows his inner freedom to make good decisions, both in ecclesial and personal matters. "Only in the silence of prayer can one learn the voice of God, perceive the traces of his language, access his truth."
He explained that bishops and leaders in the church must strive to grow in the kind of discernment which dialogues with the faithful "in a patient and courageous accompanying process."
Then it can "mature the capacity of each – faithful, families, priests, communities, and societies – all called to advance in the freedom to choose and accomplish the good that God wants."
Because discernment isn't just for the wise, clear-sighted, or perfect, he said. God often shows himself to the most humble, in fact.
So true discernment, he continued, is an open and necessary process. It's not about set formulas or repetition. "The Shepherd is called to make available to the flock the grace of the Spirit, who knows how to penetrate the folds of the real and to take account of its nuances to reveal what God wants to achieve at all times."
Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.