VATICAN - At the Regina Cæli prayer the Pope underlines the bond that exists in the Church between the Spirit and institution: “Without the Holy Spirit the Church would be a merely human organisation, weighed down by her very structures”

Monday, 16 May 2005

Vatican City (Fides Service) - At the end of the Holy Mass with the ordination of 21 new priests for the diocese of Rome, addressing from his study window the crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square for the midday prayer and papal blessing, Pope Benedict XVI encouraged those present to thank God “for the gift of the new priests” and to pray “for numerous and holy vocations in Rome and all over the world”.
The Holy Father noted that "the happy coincidence between Pentecost and the priestly ordinations invites me to underscore the indissoluble tie that exists, in the Church, between the Spirit and the institution. I referred to this last Saturday when I took possession of the chair of the bishop of Rome at St. John Lateran. The chair and the Spirit are intimately linked in reality, as are the charisma and the ordained ministry. Without the Holy Spirit the Church would be reduced to a merely human organisation, weighed down by her very structures. But in turn, in the plans of God, the Spirit habitually uses human mediation to act in history. Precisely for this reason, Christ, Who constituted His Church on the foundation of the Apostles gathered around Peter, also enriched her with the gift of His Spirit so that, over the centuries. He could comfort her and lead her to the full truth. "May the ecclesial community remain always open and docile to the action of the Holy Spirit in order to be among men a credible sign and effective instrument of God's action!"
Before the prayer the Holy Father asked for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin May contemplated in the glorious mystery of Pentecost “for a new effusion of the Spirit on the Church in our day”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 16/5/2005; righe 22, parole 301)


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