VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register
Edward Pentin
The Congregation for Clergy is about to issue a new document on basic norms for priestly formation which aim to move away from “rigidity” in the interests of fostering greater pastoral discernment and accompaniment, according to the Congregation’s cardinal prefect.
In an interview in tomorrow’s L’Osservatore Romano timed to coincide with its release, Cardinal Beniamino Stella explains that the document is a revision of the “Basic Plan for Priestly Formation” issued in 1970 which was later updated in 1985. Those documents were both issued by the Congregation for Catholic Education.
Entitled The Gift of the Priestly Vocation, the guidelines, otherwise known as Ratio Institutionis sacerdotalis, will be promulgated tomorrow, December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Cardinal Stella, a Vatican diplomat and one of the Pope’s most trusted aides, says the decision to issue the new document is in view of “the effect of the rapid evolution the world is subjected to today” as well as changing “historical, socio-cultural and ecclesial contexts in which the priest is called to embody the mission of Christ and of the Church.”
He stresses the document should reflect those realities “without causing significant changes relating to other aspects: the image or vision of the priest, the spiritual needs of God’s people, the challenges of the new evangelization, the languages of communication, and more.”
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