THE PRIEST, MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL IN THE NAME OF THE CHURCH

VATICAN CITY, JAN 19, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received superiors and students from the "Almo Collegio Capranica", the Roman seminary that forms candidates for the priesthood from Rome and the rest of Italy and the world, for the occasion of the upcoming feast of their patroness, St. Agnes.

The Pope told the students that they were "called to be witnesses and 'examples to the flock' that will be entrusted to you. To be such, it is necessary that you acquire the interior disposition and particular forms of behavior that lie at the heart of priestly spirituality."

"Be, moreover, faithful to the Church, and in her always work in communion with your bishops. Indeed, a priest is not a man of isolated and independent initiatives; he is a minister of the Gospel in the name of the Church. All his apostolic activities come from the Church and to her they return."

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