Pray for Priests

Back on March 16th Pope Benedict XVI declared a “Year for Priests” beginning with the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 19, 2009--this Friday. The year will conclude in Rome with an international gathering of priests with the Holy Father on June 19, 2010.

With the announcement of this Year for Priests, the Pope has declared St. John Vianney the Universal Patron of Priests on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the death of the Curé d’Ars.

During the Year for Priests the gift of special Indulgences is granted as described in the Decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary, published on 12 May.

Pope Benedict has called this special year of dedication to encourage priests to "strive for spiritual perfection [and] divine intimacy in which the priest is called to be expert, so that he may be able to lead the souls entrusted to him humbly and trustingly to the same encounter with the Lord". Throughout this year our part is to pray for all priests that they may have a renewal of personal purity and holiness, a re-dedication to study and evangelization, and a profound self-identity of being an "alter Christus".

There is no Church without the Eucharist and there is no Eucharist without the Priest!