For Pope Francis, "to be a
pastor means believing every day in the grace and power that comes from the
Lord." Despite our weakness, it also means being "watchful" about oneself and the flock, because "the lack of watchfulness," as we know, "makes the Shepherd half-hearted, distracts him, makes him forgetful, even edgy.
It seduces him with the prospect of a career, and entices him with money and the compromises with the spirit of the world. It makes him lazy, turns him into a bureaucrat, a self-centred cleric concerned with organisations and structures rather than the true good of the People of God. The danger is that, like the Apostle Peter, we might deny the Lord, even if we formally act and speak on his behalf, overshadowing the holiness of the hierarchical Mother Church, making it less fruitful."
For the Pontiff, who spoke this afternoon at the 65th general assembly of the Italian Bishops' Conference, this is how the shepherd of souls ought to be.
In his reflection on what bishops ought to do and what their soul ought to be, he warned against the dangers of "worldliness," noting that the right answer lies in the question Jesus asked Peter, which is "do you love me?"