The pope also invited Catholics to pray for priestly vocations.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday said priestly ministry in the Catholic Church, entrusted only to men, is understood in light of apostolic succession and called for priests who are \u201cardent with evangelical charity\u201d and \u201ccourageous missionaries.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his March 25 catechesis dedicated to the dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium, from the Second Vatican Council, Leo explained that the Church \u201cis founded on the apostles, whom Christ appointed as the living pillars of his mystical body.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking in St. Peter\u2019s Square, the pontiff emphasized that the Church possesses a \u201chierarchical structure that works in the service of the unity, mission, and sanctification of all her members,\u201d and that it is not merely an organizational structure but an institution of divine origin.<\/p>\n
The pope recalled that the apostles, as authoritative witnesses of the Resurrection, received from Christ the mission to teach, sanctify, and guide, and that this ministry \u201cis handed on to men who, until Christ\u2019s return, continue to sanctify, guide, and instruct the Church \u2018through their successors in pastoral office.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
This transmission, he explained, forms the basis of apostolic succession and of the sacrament of holy orders, which is structured in three degrees: the episcopate, the presbyterate, and the diaconate.<\/p>\n
The pope quoted from chapter 3 of Lumen Gentium, which is about the hierarchical structure of the Church, and states that this structure \u201cis not a human construct, functional to the internal organization of the Church as a social body,\u201d but a divine institution through which Christ\u2019s mission continues throughout history.<\/p>\n
The essential difference of the ministerial priesthood<\/p>\n
In his address, the pontiff highlighted that Vatican II teaches that the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood \u201cdiffers \u2018in essence and not only in degree\u2019 from the common priesthood of the faithful,\u201d while making clear that the latter are \u201cnonetheless interrelated: Each of them in its own special way is a participation in the one priesthood of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thus, the ordained ministry is conferred on men who receive \u201csacra potestas,\u201d or sacred power, for service in the Church, in continuity with the apostolic mission originally entrusted to the Twelve Apostles.<\/p>\n
This link with the apostles \u2014 chosen by Christ from among men \u2014 constitutes the theological foundation explaining why the Church considers the ministerial priesthood to be reserved to men, in fidelity to tradition and to the mandate received from Christ.<\/p>\n
A service born from charity<\/p>\n
Leo insisted that this hierarchical structure must always be understood as service. Quoting the Second Vatican Council, he recalled that the duty entrusted to pastors \u201cis a true service, which in sacred literature is significantly called \u2018diakonia\u2019 or ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also recalled the words of St. Paul VI, who described the hierarchy as a reality \u201cborn of the charity of Christ, to fulfill, spread, and ensure the intact and fruitful transmission of the wealth of faith, examples, precepts, and charisms bequeathed by Christ to his Church.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the final part of his catechesis, the pope invited Catholics to pray for priestly vocations.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us pray to the Lord that he may send to his Church ministers who are ardent with evangelical charity, dedicated to the good of all the baptized, and courageous missionaries in every part of the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Spiritual adoption of unborn children<\/p>\n
In his remarks to Polish pilgrims at the general audience, the pope praised an initiative in defense of human life, especially in an international context marked by conflicts and wars.<\/p>\n
On March 25, Poland celebrates the \u201cDay for the Sanctity of Life,\u201d which was instituted in response to St. John Paul II\u2019s call to promote respect for human life in the encyclical Evangelium Vitae.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really need initiatives like the spiritual adoption of an unborn child, which is being launched today. In a time marked by the madness of war, it is important to defend life from conception to its natural end,\u201d Leo said.<\/p>\n
Catholics in Poland are encouraging people to commit to pray for an unborn child in danger of abortion for nine months, from the March 25 solemnity of the Annunciation to Dec. 25.<\/p>\n
This story was\u00a0first published\u00a0in\u00a0two parts\u00a0by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.<\/p>\n