Pope Francis says a good priest will be involved with people's struggles and be empathetic

Pope's Morning Homily: A Good Priest Knows How to Empathize

At Casa Santa Marta, Reflects on God's Compassion and How Pastors Should Imitate It

    

Rome, October 30, 2015 (ZENIT.org) Staff Reporter              

 

A good priest must be able to empathize with his flock, to become involved in their struggles and lives, says Pope Francis.
The Holy Father said this today in his homily at the morning Mass in the Casa Santa Marta, reported Vatican Radio.
“It’s interesting that in the parable that we all know of the Prodigal Son, it’s said that when the father - who's the figure of a forgiving God – sees his son arriving he feels compassion," the Pope said. "God’s compassion isn’t about feeling pity: it’s nothing at all to do with that."
“I can feel pity,” he explained, “for a dog that is dying,” but God’s compassion is different, it means “empathizing with another person’s problem, empathizing with that person’s situation.”
“Jesus healed people but he is not a healer. No!  He healed people as a sign, as a sign of God’s compassion, to save that person, to bring back the lost sheep to the fold, the money that went missing from the woman’s purse. God has compassion. God loves us like a Father. He does this for each one of us. And when God forgives, he forgives like a Father and not like an official in the law court who reads out the verdict saying: ‘Acquitted for lack of evidence.’ He forgives us from within his heart. He forgives because he loved that person.”
Jesus, continued the Pope, was sent to bring the good news, “to free those who are oppressed” and “to enter the heart of each one of us, to free us from our sins and evil.”
“This is what a priest does: he feels empathy towards others and becomes involved in the life of people because he is a priest, like Jesus is a priest.  How many times – and then we must go to confession – do we criticize those priests who are not interested in what is happening to those in their congregation, who don’t care about them. He is not a good priest!  A good priest is one who empathizes.”
Pope Francis said a good priest is somebody who gets involved in all human problems.
He concluded his homily by paying tribute to Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who was present at the Mass, to celebrate his 60 years of priesthood. He praised the Cardinal’s work on behalf of the Church when he headed the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, and said let us give thanks to God for these 60 years and for God’s compassion.