Spanish
Vatican City, May 31 (EFE).- Pope Leo XIV presided over the ordination of eleven new priests this Saturday in a mass at St. Peter's Basilica and, in his homily, urged them to "rebuild the credibility" of the church and not to pursue power.
"Together we will rebuild the credibility of a wounded Church, sent to a wounded humanity, within a wounded creation. It doesn't matter to be perfect but it is necessary to be credible," the pontiff stated before the newly ordained in the Vatican temple.Leo XIV has resumed this ceremony which, in the last three years of Francis' pontificate, had been presided over by the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, and has asked the new priests to put themselves at the service of the "real world" and "not seek other powers".
The clergy, he defended, must be linked to "people of flesh and blood", "without isolating themselves" and without living their mission as "a sort of privilege", but he also warned that "self-referentialism extinguishes the fire" of the priestly mission, as Francis said.
In the rite, 11 new priests were consecrated, 7 trained at the Pontifical Major Seminary and 4 from the 'Redemptoris Mater' college, and their ordination was laden with symbolism.
The ceremony began with the newly ordained dressed entirely in white vestments and being called by their name: "Here I am," they all responded.
Then, the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, Baldassare Reina, appeared before the pontiff to proclaim that "the holy Mother Church asks that these brothers of ours be ordained priests."
"Are you sure they are worthy?" the pope then asked, to which the cardinal stated: "According to the information gathered among the Christian people and the judgment of those who have guided their formation, I can confirm that they are worthy."
After the homily, the ordained pronounced their commitments and then passed one by one before Leo XIV, kneeling to promise "filial respect and obedience" to him and his future successors.
Immediately afterwards, the new presbyters prostrated themselves on the ground, at the feet of the papal altar built on the place where, according to tradition, Saint Peter was buried, while the assembly sang the litany.
The rite concluded with the imposition of the stole and chasuble on the new priests and a prayer for the ordination, a completely silent moment in which the pope places his hands on the heads of the priests.
Then he anointed the palms of his hands with the holy chrism and they exchanged an embrace and the kiss of peace.
