Pope encourages new bishops to imitate St. Paul’s courage

By Catholic News Service

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS)—Pope Benedict XVI encouraged recently ordained bishops to imitate St. Paul’s missionary courage, whether in situations of religious indifference or anti-Christian persecution.

The pope made the remarks in two meetings with about 120 international bishops at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. The bishops, appointed over the last year, were in Rome for symposiums that covered various aspects of a bishop’s ministry.

Speaking Sept. 20 to a group of bishops from missionary countries, the pope said that in the year dedicated to St. Paul the prelates could look to the saint for inspiration in trying times.

“The winds of de-Christianization, religious indifference, secularization and relativism are striking your societies with increasing violence,” the pope said.

In these kinds of circumstances, the bishops, like St. Paul, might wonder whether the instrument of preaching is strong enough to win conversion, he said.

The pope encouraged them to imitate St. Paul’s persistence. St. Paul confronted personal mistreatment and many dangers and never ran from them, knowing that this was part of his role as a Christian, he said.

The pope pointed out that some of the bishops live in countries where Christians are a small minority.

“That obliges you to encounter other religions that are much stronger and not always welcoming in your regard. Sometimes there are situations that require you as pastors to defend your faithful in the face of persecutions and violent attacks,” he said.

The pope did not mention specific countries where Christians are persecuted, but in recent weeks he has condemned a series of attacks on minority Christians in India’s eastern state of Orissa.

In a talk Sept. 22 to new bishops in nonmissionary and Eastern-rite territories, the pope emphasized that the moral authority of every bishop is dependent on his personal search for holiness.

In particular, he said, the bishop should nourish himself daily on Scripture, in order to be a good teacher of the faith.

He encouraged bishops to be especially close to their priests and to make sure that young people in their dioceses are invited to consider a priestly or religious vocation.