Vatican City, Apr 28, 2010 / 08:22 am
Focusing his Wednesday catechesis in St. Peter's Square on a pair of priests from the last two centuries, Pope Benedict underscored the importance of charity, the "love of God and love to God." The Holy Father also spoke of how "signs" can signal the road to our vocations.
Today's teaching is the latest in a series on the priesthood, which the Pope decided to do as the end of the Year for Priests approaches on June 19. For his address today, the Holy Father chose two saints who lived in Turin, Italy as models of the priesthood.
Speaking first of St. Leonard Murialdo, the founder of the Congregation of Saint Joseph who was canonized 40 years ago, Pope Benedict XVI highlighted the joy with which he welcomed his vocation. After a "profound existential and spiritual crisis" in his adolescence, at 17 years old he decided to become a priest following a general confession during which he rediscovered the "immense mercy of God."
The Holy Father underlined the "central nucleus" of Fr. Leonard's spirituality as the "conviction of the merciful love of God: an always good, patient and generous Father, that reveals the greatness and immensity of his mercy with forgiveness."