VATICAN CITY
ANSA
(ANSA) Vatican City, November 20 – Pope Francis on Friday said the Catholic Church should choose its seminarians more carefully, saying some priestly hopefuls are men with psychiatric problems looking for a protective structure.
Francis warned clergymen to “keep their eyes open” with respect to the admission to seminaries of men wanting to join the priesthood.
“There are young men who are psychologically ill and are looking for strong structures to protect them,” the pope told the Congregation for the Clergy. These include “the police force, the army and the clergy,” he said. Francis went on to talk about the priestly vocation. Priests “are not professionals in pastoral care or evangelisation, who turn up and do what they have to, perhaps even well, but as if it were a job,” he said. They are not “philanthropists or public officials, but fathers and brothers” who are called “to be among people,” continued the pope, recalling also that formation does not happen “in a laboratory but within the family”. The pope also urged bishops to remain “close to” to their priests.
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