Aparecida, Brazil, May 12, 2007 / 16:05 pm
After leading the recitation of the Rosary at the colossal shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil, Pope Benedict XVI called on priests, religious and consecrated to remain faithful to their calling and to live in a manner that attracts new vocations to the Church.
“Remain in the school of Mary,” said the Pope, “Mary Most Holy, the pure and immaculate Virgin, is for us a school of faith destined to guide us and give us strength on the path that leads us to the Creator of Heaven and Earth…take inspiration from her teachings, seek to welcome and to preserve in your hearts the enlightenment that she, by divine mandate, sends you from on high,” he added.
He then praised “all the priests spread throughout the world, especially those in Latin America and the Caribbean” and said that their “faithfulness in the exercise of the ministry and the life of prayer, your search for holiness, your total self-giving to God at the service of your brothers and sisters”, speak “powerfully to my pastoral heart.”
The Pope highlighted that “the witness of a priestly life well lived brings nobility to the Church, calls forth admiration among the faithful, and is a source of blessings for the community” and it is also “the best way to promote vocations.”