Vatican City, Jun 11, 2010 / 09:10 am
At the closing Mass of the Year for Priests on Thursday, Pope Benedict reviewed the purpose of the year, saying that he wanted the universal Church to appreciate and reflect on the priesthood, which shows the “audacity of God who entrusts himself to human beings.” Because the Church focused on the good of the priesthood, the Devil reacted by inspiring the timing of the recent revelations of clerical sex abuse within the Church, the Pope said.
“It was to be expected that this new radiance of the priesthood would not be pleasing to the 'enemy,'” the Pontiff explained, “he would have rather preferred to see it disappear, so that God would ultimately be driven out of the world.”
“And so it happened that, in this very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light – particularly the abuse of the little ones, in which the priesthood, whose task is to manifest God’s concern for our good, turns into its very opposite.”
During his homily the Pope noted how the Year for Priests was celebrated to ensure “a renewed appreciation of the grandeur and beauty of the priestly ministry.”