- Feb 5, 2002
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Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has sought to reform the way Rome's parish priests carry out their ministry, something that's caused tensions
Inside the "aula magna" or great hall of the Pontifical Lateran University, a massive mosaic adorns the wall. It is an image, created in 1937 at the Vatican's workshop of mosaic craftsmen,of Jesus sitting on a cathedra with a raised right hand.Over the years, generations of students have passed before this figure of "Christ the Teacher," highly symbolic of this esteemed center of Catholic education in Rome known as "the pope's university".
But during a day-long gathering here in March 2023, the atmosphere was not one of contemplation. Rather, it was a mixture of discontent and misunderstanding. Behind closed doors of the amphitheater, the priests of Rome were engaged in heated discussions with Cardinal Angelo de Donatis, the pope's vicar,over the new "constitution" of their diocese. This fundamental legal text, which had been published two months earlier, significantly redefined the responsibilities and functioning of the Catholic Church in the Italian capital.
"One of our priests has said, 'The pope always stresses that he is the bishop of Rome and he signs his texts from the Lateran Basilica, but he never comes here. He never visits the seminary'," complained another priest during the gathering.
This straightforward criticism...
Read more at: An ongoing misunderstanding between the Bishop of Rome and his priests
Inside the "aula magna" or great hall of the Pontifical Lateran University, a massive mosaic adorns the wall. It is an image, created in 1937 at the Vatican's workshop of mosaic craftsmen,of Jesus sitting on a cathedra with a raised right hand.Over the years, generations of students have passed before this figure of "Christ the Teacher," highly symbolic of this esteemed center of Catholic education in Rome known as "the pope's university".
But during a day-long gathering here in March 2023, the atmosphere was not one of contemplation. Rather, it was a mixture of discontent and misunderstanding. Behind closed doors of the amphitheater, the priests of Rome were engaged in heated discussions with Cardinal Angelo de Donatis, the pope's vicar,over the new "constitution" of their diocese. This fundamental legal text, which had been published two months earlier, significantly redefined the responsibilities and functioning of the Catholic Church in the Italian capital.
"One of our priests has said, 'The pope always stresses that he is the bishop of Rome and he signs his texts from the Lateran Basilica, but he never comes here. He never visits the seminary'," complained another priest during the gathering.
This straightforward criticism...
Read more at: An ongoing misunderstanding between the Bishop of Rome and his priests
