FATIMA, Portugal – Pope Benedict XVI prayed at the site of
Mary’s apparitions at Fatima and entrusted the world’s
priests to her, saying the church needs “holy priests,
transfigured by grace.”
The pope prayed that Mary keep priests from the temptations
of evil and “restore calm after the tempest.”
While he did not explicitly refer to the priestly sex abuse
crisis, the pope’s remarks May 12 in some ways echoed what he
said on his flight to Portugal the previous day, when he
called the scandal a “terrifying” example of sins committed
by the church’s own ministers and urged a process of penance
and purification in the church.
The German pope arrived at Fatima to the cheers of more than
40,000 faithful, many of them sick or disabled, who had
waited for hours at the sanctuary. Some watched from
stretchers as the pope waved from a pavilion overlooking a
vast plaza in front of the shrine, as cold rain showers
alternated with sunshine.
The pope then knelt in the Chapel of the Apparitions, built
on the site where three shepherd children witnessed a series
of apparitions beginning May 13, 1917. In a prayer recited
before a statue of Mary, he recalled that Pope John Paul II
had placed in its crown a fragment of a gunman’s bullet that
seriously wounded him May 13, 1981.
He noted that the Polish pope was convinced Mary had saved
his life that day.
“It is a profound consolation to know that you are crowned
not only with the silver and gold of our joys and hopes, but
also with the ‘bullet’ of our anxieties and sufferings,” Pope
Benedict said. He left a gold rose at the statue’s feet.
After celebrating evening prayer with priests, religious and
seminarians, the pope pronounced the “act of entrustment and
consecration of priests to the immaculate heart of Mary.” In
the Year for Priests, he said, it was important to remind
priests that Christ is their model of holiness.
“Help us, through your powerful intercession, never to fall
short of this sublime vocation, nor to give way to our
selfishness, to the allurements of the world and to the wiles
of the Evil One,” he said.
“Let your presence cause new blooms to burst forth in the
desert of our loneliness, let it cause the sun to shine on
our darkness, let it restore calm after the tempest,” he
said. “Come to our aid and deliver us from every danger that
threatens us.”
The entrustment of the world’s priests to Mary was a late
addition to the papal program in Fatima. It came as the pope
and other church officials have responded to disclosures of
hundreds of past cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests
in several European countries.
In his comments to reporters aboard his plane May 11, the
pope described the scandal as a grave spiritual failing that
highlights the need for penance and spiritual conversion
inside the church. In a letter to Irish Catholics in March,
the pope said abusive priests had betrayed the trust of
innocent young people and would answer to God for their sins.
At the evening prayer service in Fatima’s immense and modern
Church of the Most Holy Trinity, the pope spoke about the
importance of the Year for Priests and his hope that the
church’s ordained ministers would strengthen their commitment
to their vocations, above all through prayer.
He told priests that their own spiritual lives were crucial
to their effectiveness in proclaiming the radical challenge
of the Gospel.
“How much we need this witness today! Many of our brothers
and sisters live as if there were nothing beyond this life
and without concern for their eternal salvation,” he said.
The pope encouraged priests to look out for one another’s
spiritual health and intervene when necessary.
“Be especially attentive to those situations where there is a
certain weakening of priestly ideals or dedication to
activities not fully consonant with what is proper for a
minister of Jesus Christ. Then is the time to take a firm
stand, with an attitude of warm fraternal love, as brother
assisting his brother to remain on his feet,” he said.
The pope also urged priests to help the church discern new
vocations. As with many European countries, Portugal has seen
a gradual but consistent drop in the number of seminarians;
today there are about 290 seminarians in the country, down
nearly 60 percent from 35 years ago.
The vocations rate in Portugal, where nearly 90 percent of
the population professes Catholicism, is today among the
lowest in Europe. Church officials said increasing
participation by young people in Catholic lay movements was a
hopeful sign for the future, and they were also hoping the
pope’s visit would stir new interest in vocations.
