Pope Francis has given a text called “The Beatitudes of the Bishop” to all the Italian bishops meeting in plenary assembly in Rome. The text offers encouragement and pastoral guidance not only to the Italian bishops but to the more than 5,000 Catholic bishops in the world today.
The Vatican released the text after Pope Francis had given a card with an image of the Good Shepherd and the text of “The Beatitudes of the Bishop” to each of the more than 200 bishops present at the opening session of the plenary assembly of the Italian bishops’ conference on Nov. 22, which is being held at a hotel in Rome.
The beatitudes of the bishop are challenging and very much in Francis’ style. They offer a portrait of how a pastor should be in the 21st century, in a world where there is so much poverty, injustice, conflict, suffering and human fragility. They are a call to serve and to dirty one’s hands, to wipe tears and work for justice, peace and reconciliation, to find goodness even in the worst situations and to work to build fraternity in today’s world.
To read the full text of “The Beatitudes of the Bishop”, please continue reading this article by clicking here.
Gerard O’Connell is America’s Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History. He has been covering the Vatican since 1985.
With thanks to America Magazine and Gerard O’Connell, where this article originally appeared.
