Vatican City, Jun 20, 2010 / 09:49 am
After celebrating the Mass of ordination for 14 deacons of the diocese of Rome in St. Peter’s Basilica this morning, Pope Benedict prayed the Sunday Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square. Before the prayer, he explained that priests are a sign of God’s love for all mankind.
“The Sacrament of Holy Orders manifests, on the part of God, his caring closeness to man, and on the part of him who receives the sacrament, the full availability to change oneself into an instrument of that closeness, with a radical love for Christ and his Church,” said Pope Benedict.
Reflecting on today’s Gospel reading, the Holy Father referred to the affirmation of Peter in which he says that Jesus is the Christ, the chosen one of God. He noted that, with this response, “all earthly opinions that consider Jesus to be one of the prophets are overcome.”
“According to St. Ambrose,” he continued, “with this profession of faith, Peter ‘has embraced the totality of all things, because he has expressed the nature and the name’ of the Messiah. And Jesus, in front of Peter’s profession of faith, renews his invitation to Peter and the other disciples to follow him on the hard path of love which leads to the cross.”