Lima, Peru, Sep 26, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The Archbishop of Lima, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, said this week priests are called to be "experts in charity" and clarified that when they fail in their mission, they deserve understanding but should not be taken as examples.
Speaking on his radio program "Dialogue of Faith," the cardinal noted that having success, sex, fame, love or power is not love. "These ‘loves’ decay sooner or later because they are not love. They are possession, domination, egoism, power, abuse, both in man and woman no matter what age or condition. I say the same thing about priests," he said.
Nevertheless, he clarified, "There is something that is very united to love and that is faithfulness. Faithfulness of the married, of the single person, of the priest, of the religious, of the elderly, of the young. Faithfulness, loyalty to commitment; to the mission one has been given in this world. We cannot teach people that love is simply sexual pleasure, success in the world, prestige and money. To sell it like this, as a product surrounded by marketing, harms our young people gravely. In reality love consists more of surrender, donation, renunciation, sacrifice and patience."
"The priest who has not discovered love is a failure; he should have never become a priest because if the priest is anything, he is a specialist in love. Why? Because he has united himself with God, who is Love," the cardinal continued.