Part of the information that reaches the public about the priesthood transmits a problematic and sometimes openly negative vision: abuses and imbalances, dissonance with respect to current trends in lifestyles, shortage of vocations, accumulation of tasks... In addition to fulfilling the saying about the tree that falls and the grass that grows (the former attracts more attention than the latter), it is understandable that the news is looking for the eye-catching. On the other hand, it is a reality that many of these shadows exist. But neither do many people lack a positive consideration of what the priesthood and its task of service represent.
For the Church, priests have a great importance that justifies particular attention. Not because they are special characters, but because they recognize the action of God and the service they render to the Christian life of the baptized, for which they have been ordained. Hence the documents of the Popes have frequently referred to it, and the Magisterium on the priesthood in the last century has been reiterated and especially rich. Several articles in this issue of Omnes can serve to rediscover that teaching and to help us draw from it impulses for renewal. It is not in vain that we find in these magisterial texts the theological, sacramental and spiritual reasons for such central aspects as the priestly vocation itself, celibacy and the mission of priests in the Church and in society.
We also offer an interview with Cardinal Lazzaro YouThe interview with Cardinal You, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy at the Holy See, reviews the issues that define the current moment in the life of priests, and in particular those related to their adequate formation. Cardinal You affirms that it is worth every effort to form good pastors; the affective aspect of that formation is the focus of the interview with Dr. Carlos Chiclanawho has studied it from the clinical point of view. Above all, the Prefect emphasizes that the type of priest we seek to form must correspond to the model of Church that God wants at this time, according to this series of questions: what Church, what priests, what formation, what vocations?
The theme of priestly vocations is also addressed in this issue from two other points of view. First of all, the more personal point of view of the correspondence to a call to follow Christ: the testimonies of some young men who are being formed to respond well to this call are luminous. Secondly, from a numerical point of view; although not absolute, it helps us to know the reality. The data show an overall decrease in the number of vocations in the world and a shift towards the African and Asian continents.
