Bishops who are accused should remain silent like Jesus on Good Friday when the crowds called out for his crucifixion, Pope Francis said Tuesday.
(Thomas D. Williams – Breitbart) When people insulted Jesus on Good Friday and shouted, “Crucify him,” the pope said in his morning homily at the chapel of the Santa Marta residence, “he remained silent because he had compassion for those people deceived by the powerful.”
“He was silent. He prayed,” Francis said.
“In the same way, the pastor, in difficult times, in times when the devil is unleashed, where the pastor is accused—accused by the Great Accuser through so many people, so many powerful ones—suffers, offers his life and prays,” the pope said.
At the conclusion of the homily, Francis invited the congregation to pray for the bishops. “Take up the Gospel and read, and see Jesus, and where his authority lies. And ask the grace that all pastors may have this authority: an authority that is a grace of the Holy Spirit,” he said.
Tuesday’s homily marked the fourth occasion in two weeks where the pope decried the action of those who accuse bishops, comparing them to the devil, the “Great Accuser.”
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