Religion: Pope and Pastors

Last week Luigi Cardinal Lavitrano, Archbishop of Palermo (Sicily), issued a pastoral letter. Chiding was His Eminence's tone. He cited statistics showing that "66% of the Italians do not hear Mass on religious holidays, and only 12% of Italian men receive Holy Communion on Easter."

Cardinal Lavitrano's pastoral gave point to a gentle scolding which Pope Pius XII delivered, on the same day, to all the parish priests of Rome—whose bishop he is. Speaking of "our times, in which religious ignorance is profound and full of peril," the Holy Father told his priests to bestir themselves, pay less attention to administrative duties,...

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