CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- In a conversation with members of the Jesuit order in Poland, Pope Francis said the real life situations of everyday Catholics aren\u2019t black and white, but rather vary on a spectrum of gray.<\/p>\nBecause of this, he stressed the need for the Church to step up formation when it comes to teaching seminarians about spiritual discernment, cautioning that many priests can\u2019t relate to or accompany the people they counsel, since they haven\u2019t been properly formed.<\/p>\n
\u201cFuture priests need to be formed not with general and abstract ideas, which are (overly) clear and distinct, but this fine discernment of spirits, so that they can help people in their concrete lives,\u201d the Pope said in a speech to Polish Jesuits, published Aug. 25.<\/p>\n
Seminarians and future priests, he said, \u201cneed to truly understand this: in life not everything is black and white, white and black. No! In life shades of gray predominate. We must then teach how to discern within this gray.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Francis met with a group of 28 Polish Jesuits July 30 while in Krakow for World Youth Day, which also coincided with the First Vespers of the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits.<\/p>\n
The participants came from two provinces and included two lay collaborators, and were accompanied by the two provincials, the director of Vatican Radio\u2019s Polish site, former Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi SJ and Fr. Antonio Spadaro SJ, director of the Jesuit publication La Civilta\u2019 Cattolica.<\/p>\n
In the private audience, which lasted about 40 minutes and took place at the Archbishop\u2019s residence in Krakow, the Pope greeted each attendee individually before sitting down to respond to some questions.<\/p>\n
Since the audience was private, the text of the conversation was not made public, however, the transcript of the conversation was published in the Aug. 25 edition of La Civilta\u2019 Cattolica.<\/p>\n
The questions posed to the Pope centered on topics such as how to dialogue with youth, what role Jesuit Universities play in the scheme of education, why he himself chose to become a Jesuit and his advice to priests for their future.<\/p>\n
However, in his typical style, after answering the questions and exchanging some gifts with the Jesuits Francis decided to add a thought, focusing on the need for better formation in seminaries, particularly when it comes to spiritual discernment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI ask you to work with the seminarians. Above all give them what we received from the (Spiritual) Exercises: the wisdom of discernment,\u201d the Pope said.<\/p>\n
He said the Church today \u201cneeds to grow in her capacity for spiritual discernment,\u201d noting that in some seminaries, formation plans place too much of an emphasis on educating \u201cin the light of ideas that are overly clear and distinct, and therefore of acting with limits and rigidly defined \u2018a priori\u2019 criteria.\u201d<\/p>\n
By having the rules so clearly defined, the formation turns into a formula of \u201cyou must do this, you must not do this,\u201d and doesn\u2019t depend on the \u201cconcrete situations\u201d of everyday life, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore seminarians, becoming priests, find difficulty in accompanying the lives of many youth and adults\u2026and many people leave the confessional disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Francis stressed that this isn\u2019t because \u201cthe priest is bad,\u201d but rather comes from the fact that the priest doesn\u2019t have the ability \u201cto discern situations, of accompanying in authentic discernment. He doesn\u2019t have the necessary formation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pope said the art of spiritual direction is \u201cnot only a priestly charisma, but also lay,\u201d however, it\u2019s more important for priests to master, since they \u201cneed it in their ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Priests \u201croutinely receive the confidences of the consciences of the faithful,\u201d he said, adding that because of this, spiritual discernment needs to be taught \u201cabove all to priests, to help them in the light of the Exercises in the dynamic of pastoral discernment.\u201d Francis said pastoral discernment \u201crespects the law,\u201d but can also \u201cgo beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turning to 20th century Jesuit Fr. Hugo Rahner, brother of famous Jesuit theologian Fr. Karl Rahner, the Pope said Hugo had written that \u201ca Jesuit should be a man of supernatural instinct.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is, he should be equipped with a sense of the divine and a sense of the diabolic related to the events of human life and history,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Jesuit must therefore be able to discern whether it\u2019s in the field of God or in the field of the devil.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Hugo wrote, he said, \u201cis bold, it\u2019s truly bold, but this is discernment!\u201d<\/p>\n
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Vatican City, Aug 25, 2016 \/ 04:18 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- In a conversation with members of the Jesuit order in Poland, Pope Francis said the real life situations of everyday Catholics aren’t black and white, but rather vary on a spectrum of gray.
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