Pope Francis warned of the danger of “pastoral scientists”, who give opinions and seek modernization and development of plans instead of focusing on pastoral care.
The Holy Father said this on September 15 during the press conference granted to the journalists who accompanied him on his trip from Kazakhstan to Rome.
Responding to a question from Rudolf Gehrig, the German-language Vatican correspondent for the ACI Group and EWTN, about the decline in Europe of the faithful who attend Sunday Mass, the Pope acknowledged that it is true that “the spirit of the secularization and relativism puts these things into a discussion”.
However, the Pope stressed the importance of “coherence of faith” and gave an example that when “a bishop or priest is incoherent, young people reject him.”
Along these lines, the Holy Father added: “When a church, from any country, thinks more about money, about development, about pastoral plans and not about pastoral care, and goes down that path, this does not attract people ”.
Then, the Pope recalled the publication of the letter he wrote two years ago to the German people, an occasion in which some “pastors published it, but person by person…” and added “when the pastor is close to the people – this pastor said that the people should know what the Pope thinks, he went there- I think that the pastors have to move on. And if the shepherds have lost the smell of the sheep and the sheep have lost the smell of the shepherd, they don’t go on.”
“Sometimes, I speak of everyone in general, not of Germany, of everyone, generally they think about how to renew, how to make the most modern pastoral, that is fine, but always in the hands of a pastor. If pastoral care is in the hands of ‘pastoral scientists’, those who give their opinion here, that they should do this. No. Jesus made the church with pastors, not political leaders. He made the Church out of ignorant people. The twelve (apostles) were one more ignorant than the others,” the Pope said.
In this way, the Holy Father highlighted the importance that in the church there is “the sense of smell of the flock with the shepherd and of the shepherd with the flock” and added “when there is a crisis in a place, in a province, in anything. I wonder: is the shepherd in contact with the flock? Does this flock have a shepherd or not? The problem is the shepherds.”
Finally, Pope Francis suggested reading “Saint Augustine’s commentary on shepherds” that “can be read in an hour” because, in his opinion, “it is one of the wisest things that were written for shepherds and with that you can qualify to that pastor, or to the other.”
“It is not a matter of modernization, yes, you must be up to date with the methods, this is true. But if the heart of the pastor is missing, no ministry works, none”, the Pope concluded.