Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - A valuable tool for bishops all over the world in guiding their flock is the new volume entitled “Pastori di Cristo. Per una Chiesa sinodale” (“Shepherds of Christ. For a synodal Church”) published by the Dicastery for Evangelization – Section for the First Evangelization and the new Particular Churches and the Dicastery for Bishops.
The volume, published in collaboration with "Libreria Editrice Vaticana" (LEV), brings together in a single text the 25 lectures and 8 homilies that formed the basis of the days of study, prayer and reflection in which the recently appointed bishops (almost all of them were ordained last year) took part from 15 to 22 September in Rome during the annual "Formation courses for newly appointed bishops" belonging to the territories under the jurisdiction of these two curial bodies.
The event, which is an integral part of the Roman Curia's programming, had an unprecedented feature last year: for the first time, a large part of the work sessions at the Pontifical Urbaniana University were attended jointly by both the bishops who took part in the formation course organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization (Section for the First Evangelization and the New Particular Churches) and those who took part in the similar formation course organized by the Dicastery for Bishops. 114 bishops took part in the course organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization, and 153 in the course organized by the Dicastery for Bishops, for a total of 267. Among them were also 25 bishops of the Eastern Rite (for whom the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches is responsible) and 5 newly ordained bishops who work in the Roman Curia.
In addition to the two days of joint sessions at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, the two groups of bishops participated in lectures and debates on specific topics in two different locations: the course entitled “Living the Episcopal Mission in a Synodal Church” organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization took place at the Pontifical College of St. Peter, while the course organized by the Dicastery for Bishops took place at the Pontifical College of St. Paul.
The lectures given by the cardinals who preside over the various bodies of the Roman Curia, to the homilies delivered during the prayer times, are now collected in a book that has been available in bookstores for a few days and begins with an introduction written by Cardinals Tagle and Prevost, respectively the Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization and the Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. The volume will be made available to participants in the formation course by the respective curial authorities.
The "Study seminars", reserved for newly ordained bishops in the ecclesiastical circumscriptions entrusted to the Dicastery for Evangelization, were created in 1994 with the aim of giving all new bishops, at the beginning of their term of office, the opportunity to face the complex challenges of their office and to experience days in Rome marked by dialogue and prayer, which they share with their brother bishops from all over the world. (Agenzia Fides, 21/1/2025)
