"At Least Not Inferior"

In the present state of the world, priests should not be too unworldly. So said Pope Pius XII last week. To ensure the training of properly down-to-earth priests, the Pope urged every Roman Catholic seminary to:

1) Treat boys as boys. "Students in minor [largely high-school level] seminaries are adolescents separated from their natural habitat: the family. Hence it is necessary that their life be as much as possible a boy's normal life."

2) Rub shoulders with reality. "If young men . . . are formed in character in an atmosphere too far removed from the world, when they leave the seminary they may find serious difficulties in their relations with the faithful and also with cultured laity . . . It is necessary to diminish gradually and with due prudence the present detachment of the future priest from the people so that he will not feel lost at the beginning of his ministry."

3) Give students intellectual background. "We wish to recommend that literary and scientific culture of priests be at least not inferior to that of lay persons following a similar discipline of studies."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.