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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Formally opening the Year for Priests, Pope Benedict urged all priests to strive for holiness and said the ordained ministry was indispensable for the church and the world.
"The church needs priests who are holy, ministers who help the faithful experience the merciful love of the Lord and who are convinced witnesses of that love," the pope said at a prayer service in St. Peter's Basilica June 19.
At the same time, in an apparent reference to cases of priestly sex abuse, he warned of the "terrible risk of damaging those we are obliged to save."
"Nothing makes the church and the body of Christ suffer so much as the sins of its pastors, especially those who transform themselves into 'robbers of sheep,' either because they lead them astray with their private doctrines, or because they bind them in the snares of sin and death," he said.
Thousands of priests packed the basilica for the evening prayer service, which was preceded by a procession of the relic of the heart of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests. The pope proclaimed the yearlong focus on priestly ministry to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the saint's death.
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"Christ is ever present in His Church, especially in liturgical celebrations. Hence the liturgy is the privileged place for the encounter of Christians with God and the One whom He has sent, Jesus Christ." Apostolic Letter Vicesimus Quintus Annus
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"Christians who gather each Sunday to experience and proclaim the presence of the Risen Lord are called to evangelize and bear witness in their daily lives."
Apostolic Letter Dies Domini
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