Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “Under various circumstances I have reminded seminarians and priests of the urgency of nurturing a profound interior life, personal and continual contact with Christ in prayer and contemplation, and genuine striving for holiness. In fact without friendship with Jesus it is impossible for a Christian, and even more so for a priest, to bring to completion the mission entrusted to him by the Lord ”. With these words the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI addressed the community of the Almo Collegio Capranica of Rome, received in audience on 19 January on the occasion of the feast day of the College's patron saint Agnes (21 January) .
In his address the Pope recalled Almo Collegio Capranica's “centuries old history and long tradition of fidelity to the Church and her supreme Shepherd”. In 2007 the college marked 550 years since its foundation and in August this year it will commemorate the 550th anniversary of the death of Cardinal Domenico Capranica (14 August 1458), who did much to promote the founding of the College. Benedict XVI recalled “the exemplary and farsighted figure of this Cardinal, who energetically and concretely supported the desire for reform which was beginning to be felt within the Roman reality and which, a century later, was to help determine the orientations and decisions of the Council of Trent … Convinced of the importance of the spiritual formation of future ministers at the altar and in the Church's mission, Cardinal Capranica not only worked for the institution of the College, he wished for it to have Constitutiones to regulate in a complete manner the different aspects of the formation of the young students. In this way he showed his concern for the primacy of the spiritual dimension and awareness that profundity and consequent perseverance for sound priestly formation, depend, decisively, on the perfection and organicity of the formation offered. These decisions acquire even more importance today, considering the many challenges which priests and evangelisers have to face”.
Benedict XVI stressed the importance for the priest to acquire “sound cultural and theological preparation”, which during his stay in Rome “can receive decisive impulse” since “the level of experience and contact which it is possible to live here, is a gift of providence and a singular stimulus … Moreover the presence of a few students from the Russian Orthodox Church gives ulterior impulse to dialogue and fraternity and nurtures ecumenical hope”. Concluding his address, the Holy Father asked the students to take advantage of the opportunities divine Providence offers them in these years at Capranica College, and above all to nurture “a close relationship with the immolated Lamb, imitating Saint Agnes who followed Him faithfully to the point of sacrificing her life”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 21/1/2008; righe 33, parole 453)
