This afternoon, shortly after 16.00, Pope Francis went to the Salesian Pontifical University and, in the Aula Magna dedicated to Saint Paul VI, met with approximately 200 priests of the diocese of Rome in the eleventh to the thirty-ninth year of their ordination. Of those who could not come, many were engaged in summer commitments with young people in the parishes.

After a brief greeting from Bishop Di Tolve and a moment of prayer, the conversation between the Pope and the priests present began.

The topics discussed included pastoral issues related to the diocese, the role and identity of the priest, and the beauty of being a priest. In response to questions, the Pope cited the model of Don Milani, “a great one, a light for the Italian priest”, and spoke of the risk of falling into worldliness, and the need to extend the welcome in parishes “to everyone, everyone!”

The issue of the suffering of the people suffering emerged strongly, to be accompanied with closeness, compassion and tenderness, three qualities of God, to be experienced - the Pope said - especially for the elderly. In this sense, the importance of hospital pastoral care was mentioned, as well as the difficulties of the city of Rome, the housing emergency - inviting generosity from religious congregations with facilities -, the spread of drugs, the tragedy of loneliness, and the many who live their pain in invisibility. “In the life of a priest, the invisible is more important than the visible, because it is denser, more painful”, the Pope said, and added, “Our job as priests is to go and seek out these people”, because “the church is either prophetic or clerical: it is up to us to choose”.

The dialogue dwelt on the current situation in Europe and the world, and the Pope sorrowfully mentioned the ongoing wars, in the Holy Land, Ukraine, but also in Myanmar, in Congo, and the huge investments in weapons, contraceptives, veterinary expenses and cosmetic surgery. In this sense, he urged work in the Church’s social magisterium, a greater commitment to the common good, to peace, and, in times of disengagement and abstentionism, to politics, “the highest form of charity”.

The conversation provided an opportunity to remember and thank Cardinal De Donatis, whom the Pope praised for his great “capacity to understand and forgive”, precious qualities in his new role, where he is called to be “an expression of the merciful face of the Father”.

In conclusion, the Pope spoke of the danger of ideologies in the Church and returned to the issue of the admission of people with homosexual tendencies to seminaries, reiterating the need to welcome them and accompany them in the Church, and the prudential indication of the Dicastery for the Clergy regarding their entry into the seminary.

Finally, he thanked the priests present for their work, urging them to continue in their commitment, in community discernment and listening to all those who turn to them.