A message from the Bishop of Rome

They were all going to get up, thinking that the speech of their Jesuit confrere was over. But after answering the questions, Francis wished to touch on a final issue. You know what happens, when things are close to your heart…
The 28 Polish Jesuits sat down once again to listen to their Pope. That was last summer in Krakow.

Now I want to add something. I ask you to work with seminarians. Above all, give them what we have received from [St. Ignatius’] exercises: the wisdom of discernment. The church today needs to grow in the ability of spiritual discernment. Some priestly formation programmes run the risk of educating in the light of overly clear and distinct ideas, and therefore to act within limits and criteria that are rigidly defined a priori, and ignore concrete situations: «you must do this; you must not do that». The seminarians, when they become priests, have difficulty in accompanying the life of so many young people and adults because many are asking: ‘can you do this or not?’. That’s all. And many people leave the confessional disappointed. Not because the priest is bad, but because the priest doesn’t have the ability to discern situations, to accompany them in authentic discernment. They don’t have the needed formation.

The Church today needs to grow in her capacity for spiritual discerment. And especially priests really need it for their ministry. That is why we must teach seminarians and priests in formation: they routinely receive the confidences of the consciences of the faithful. Spiritual direction is not only a charism for the clergy, but also for the laity, that is true. But I repeat, you must teach this above all to priests, to teach them in the light of the Exercises about the dynamic of pastoral discernment, which respects the law but knows how to go beyond it. This is an important task for the Society of Jesus. I was very touched by the thought of Father Hugo Rahner. He thought clearly and he wrote clearly! Hugo said that the Jesuit should be a man with the nose for the supernatural, that is, he must be a man gifted with a sense of both the divine and the demonic in relation to the events of human life and history. The Jesuit must therefore be capable of discerning both in the field of God and in the field of the devil. This is why, in the Exercises, St. Ignatius asks to be introduced not only to the intentions of the Lord of life but also to those of the Enemy of human nature and his deceptions. What he wrote is bold, it is truly bold, but this is discernment! Future priests need to be formed not with general and abstract ideas, which are overly clear and distinct, but with the aim of discernment of spirits, so that they can help people in their concrete lives. We need to truly understand this: in life not everything is black over white, or white over black. No! The shades of grey prevail in life. We must teach them how to discern in this grey area.