The Pope: 'A worldly priest is a clericalized pagan'

"A worldly priest is nothing but a clericalized pagan"

.

This is the warning that

addressed to the priests in St. Peter's Basilica during the

, a liturgy that is celebrated on Holy Thursday in all Catholic Churches. 

THE CHRISMAL MASS

- The Chrism Mass is concelebrated by the Pope with the cardinals, bishops and presbyters (diocesan and religious) present in Rome: in all almost two thousand concelebrants.

During the celebration, the priests renew the promises made at the moment of ordination.

Then the blessing of the oil of the sick, the oil of the catechumens and the chrism takes place.

THE GRACE OF THE PRIESTHOOD

- "Being priests is, dear brothers, a grace, a very great grace, which is not primarily a grace for us, but for the people; and for our people it is a great gift that the Lord chooses, in the midst to his flock, some who take care of his sheep exclusively, as fathers and shepherds ", the Pope said during the homily, addressing the priests.

"There is no greater salary than friendship with Jesus, do not forget this", the Pontiff explained. "There is no greater peace than his forgiveness: we all know this. There is no price more expensive than that of his precious Blood, which we must not allow to be despised with an unworthy conduct ".

"If we read with the heart, dear brother priests - he added -, these are invitations from the Lord to be faithful to him,

to be faithful to his Covenant, to allow ourselves to be loved, to allow ourselves to be forgiven;

they are invitations not only for ourselves, but also so that in this way we can serve, with a clear conscience, the holy faithful people of God. The people deserve it and also need it ".

HIDDEN IDOLATRY

- In the Chrism Mass, Pope Francis wanted to share with the priests "three spaces of hidden idolatry in which the Evil One uses his idols to weaken us from our vocation as shepherds and, little by little, separate us from the beneficial and loving presence of Jesus, of the Spirit and of the Father ".

The Pope identified

as spaces of idolatry.

Spiritual

was defined by Francis as "'a proposal for life, a culture of the ephemeral, a culture of appearance, of make-up'". "Its criterion is triumphalism, a triumphalism without a Cross - explained the pontiff", who he added: "This temptation to glory without the Cross goes against the person of the Lord, goes against Jesus, who humbles himself in the Incarnation and who, as a sign of contradiction, is the only medicine against every idol". "The worldliness of going in search of one's own glory steals from us the presence of Jesus humble and humiliated, Lord close to all, Christ in pain with all those who suffer, adored by our people who know who their true friends are ", warned the Pontiff, stating:

.

"Another space of hidden idolatry has its roots where primacy is given to the

", Pope Francis stressed to the priests in the Chrism Mass.

"Those who have this hidden idol recognize themselves for their love of statistics - he explained -, those that can erase any personal trait in the discussion and give pre-eminence to the majority. It's ugly".

"This cannot be the only way to proceed nor the only criterion in the Church of Christ - he observed -. People cannot be numbered".

"A third space of hidden idolatry - added the Pope - is the one that opens with

', a seductive environment in which many, '

, it aims at effectiveness ”he explained.

According to the Pontiff, "the functionalist does not know how to rejoice in the graces that the Spirit pours out on his people, which he could 'feed on' even as a worker who earns his salary". 

EDUCATED DEMONS

- In an off-the-cuff passage of his homily in the Chrism Mass, Pope Francis - addressed to the priests - said that "the devil is like this, he goes forward slowly, A few other times I have spoken of 'educated' demons, right? Those whom Jesus says are worse than the one who was chased away. But they are polite: they ring the bell, they enter and, step by step, they take possession of the house. We must be careful, these are our idols ".

And in another passage he added:

.