The Pope has called for improvements in homilies which, according to him, are often a «disaster» and specified that they should not last more than 8-10 minutes.
«It is prepared in prayer, it is prepared in an apostolic spirit. Please, homilies, which are a disaster in general,» the Pontiff assured while receiving at the Vatican the participants of the course for diocesan leaders of liturgical celebrations.
In his address to the participants in the course «Living the liturgical action to the full» of the St. Anselm Pontifical Institute for diocesan leaders of liturgical celebrations, Francis also echoed the working document of the Synod on Synodality, which will hold its final meeting at the Vatican in 2024, according to which «the quality of homilies is almost unanimously considered a problem».
For the Pontiff, the liturgy «is the primary art of the Church, the one that constitutes and characterizes it». For this reason, he urged to take care of the celebrations with «preparation and commitment», in addition to a «profound knowledge and a deep pastoral sense».
The Pope emphasized that the Church, in his opinion, «has not yet understood»: «The homily is not a conference, it is a sacramental».
Thus, he urged to help the «communities to live the liturgy» and to «let themselves be shaped by it».
The Pope also received this Saturday the community of the Pontifical Urban College of Propaganda Fidei on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of its foundation.
This institution, which is 400 years old, was founded by Pope Urban VIII for the formation of clergy destined for mission territories. «It was an important intuition that is still valid today,» said the Pope, who called on new priests to accept and interpret reality «creatively,» allowing themselves to be «challenged by the multiple needs and questions of the present time.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
