The pontiff cautioned that this temptation risks reducing spirituality to mere outward appearances and distancing it from the core teachings of the Gospel.

Pope Francis's message, although originally written for the memorial of the Dedication of Rome's Basilica of St Mary Major on August 5th, was released by the Vatican on Monday. It emphasised the need for a "fraternal encounter" in these challenging times.

"God asks us to go to the depths in the fight against spiritual worldliness," the Pope said, drawing upon the insights of the 20th-century theologian and cardinal Henri de Lubac.

Lubac contended that the infiltration of spiritual worldliness could prove even more destructive than ordinary moral worldliness. This corruption, the Pope asserted, undermines the very essence of the Church.

"Spiritual worldliness leads us to be ‘merchants of the spirit', men clothed in sacred forms who in reality continue to think and act according to the fashions of the world," he wrote.

Temptations of mediocrity, power, influence and vanity

The Pope outlined how spiritual worldliness creeps into the lives of priests through various avenues — temptations to mediocrity, power, influence and vanity. He also pointed out that, while doctrinal rigidity and a focus on liturgical aesthetics can simulate religiosity, it can instead prioritise personal glory and self-interest.

Furthermore, Pope Francis used this opportunity to delve deeper into his ongoing concern about clericalism.

The pontiff termed clericalism a distinctive manifestation of spiritual worldliness. He condemned the misguided perception that priests are superior and separated from the rest of the faithful.

The Pope cited the metaphor of "milk" and "wool" (that which nourishes and warms) found in Ezekiel and St Augustine, to warn against the risk of "feeding ourselves and our interests by covering ourselves with a comfortable life."

"When we are concerned only with milk, we think of our personal gain; when we obsessively seek wool, we think of looking after our own image and increasing our success. And so we lose the priestly spirit," he wrote.

Concluding his letter, the Pope urged Roman priests to collaborate with the laity, fostering "synodal forms and paths" so that "the Lord's consolation truly reaches everyone."

"May the Church of Rome be an example of compassion and hope for all, with her pastors always, always ready and available to bestow God's forgiveness as channels of mercy that quench the thirst of today's man."

Sources

Catholic News Agency

Vatican News

CathNews New Zealand

Born in 1896 as the Dreyfus Affair was tearing France apart, and dying while the Soviet Union imploded in 1991, Cardinal Henri de Lubac, SJ, participated in some of the most momentous events that shaped the Catholic Church between the pontificates of Leo XIII and Saint John Paul II.

Though well-known for his work in opening up the Church's rich intellectual patrimony and his influence upon key documents of Vatican II, de Lubac was far from being a reclusive scholar.

Coming from a fervently Catholic French aristocratic family, de Lubac could not help but be conscious of the deep fractures between the Church and the forces unleashed by the French Revolution.

Nor was he afraid to immerse himself in many of the epoch-making conflicts of his time. Indeed, de Lubac definitely had a mind for politics—but not of the type you might expect.

When much of the Church hierarchy, clergy, and laity rallied to the Vichy regime following France's humiliating defeat in 1940, de Lubac quickly became active in the French Resistance.

A consistent anti-Nazi before and during World War II, de Lubac was outspoken in his opposition to anti-Semitism at a time when anti-Jewish sentiments were widespread among many Catholics.

Likewise, de Lubac was critical of some French Catholics' infatuation with Marxism after World War II. Unlike some of his contemporaries, Communism was never something about which de Lubac entertained any illusions.

Beyond the specifics of particular movements, de Lubac was puzzled by the fact that secular ideologies—ranging from Marxism to socialism, fascism, nationalism, and particular expressions of liberalism—continued to exercise such a grip on the Western imagination.

Why, de Lubac asked, did so many people in the West continue cleaving to ideas that had led to the destruction and death unleashed throughout the 20th century in the name of the proletariat, der Volk, or "progress"?

And how, he wondered, could people of considerable intelligence actually believe that they were promoting man's well-being by supporting such ideologies? Continue reading

Sources

• The Catholic World Report, from an article by Dr. Samuel Gregg, Research Director at the Acton Institute.
• Image: Jesuits in Britain

Born into an ancient noble family, he served with distinction in the First World War and with heroism in the French Resistance in the Second, and went on to become a friend and mentor of one of the greatest popes in history.

Henri-Marie Joseph de Lubac was born in Cambrai in 1896, one of six children.

He joined the Jesuits while still in his teens and in the normal way would have studied with them in France, but anti-Church laws passed in the 1900s meant that along with other young novices he began his training in the unlikely surroundings of St Leonards-on-Sea in Sussex.

In 1914 circumstances changed again - on the outbreak of the Great War he immediately volunteered for the French army and for the next three years saw front-line service.

A savage head wound in November 1917 would result in ill-health throughout the rest of his life.

But it affected neither his intellect nor his determination to complete his training as a Jesuit, and he was ordained in 1927.

In the inter-war years, de Lubac was professor of fundamental theology at the Catholic University in Lyon. His Second World War activities interrupted this - he had to go underground while working with the Resistance.

He ran an influential underground journal, Témoignage Chrétien, which denounced the Nazis and also the Vichy regime in France, emphasising the incompatibility of these with Christian teaching.

But he is chiefly known for his contribution to an inspirational renewal of theology based on a return to the sources, the Scriptures and the Fathers - work which was to have a powerful and lasting impact, especially through the Second Vatican Council. Continue reading

Sources

• Joanna Bogle, a British Catholic journalist, writer and broadcaster, writing in the Catholic Herald.
• Image: Qualitative Theology