- Cardinal Beniamino Stella, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy.

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 OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
 Vatican City, 24 April 2014 (VIS) - On Friday 18 the Holy Father accepted the
resignation of Rev. Dom Umberto Beda Paluzzi, O.S.B., from the pastoral care
of the territorial abbey of Montevergine in Italy, in accordance with canon
401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.
 On Thursday, 17 April, the Holy Father:
 - appointed Rev. Jose Augusto Traquina Maria as auxiliary of the patriarchate
of Lisbon (area 3,735, population 2,237,000, Catholics 1,871,000, priests 551,
permanent deacons 86, religious 1,516), Portugal. The bishop-elect was born in
Alcobaca, Portugal in 1954 and was ordained a priest in 1985. He holds a
licentiate in theology from the Portuguese Catholic University. He has held a
number of pastoral roles, including canon of the Cathedral of Lisbon, vicar,
coordinator of the permanent secretariat of the diocesan presbyteral council,
and spiritual director.
 - appointed Jose Trinidad Fernandez Angulo as auxiliary of the archdiocese of
Caracas (area 991, population 4,644,000, Catholics 3,960,000, priests 490,
permanent deacons 9, religious 1,597), Venezuela. The bishop-elect was born in
Merida, Venezuela in 1964 and was ordained a priest in 1989. He holds a
licentiate in philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and
has held a number of pastoral roles, including director of studies, deputy
director of various seminaries, and professor.
 - Rev. Can. Francisco Jose Villas-Boas Senra de Faria Coelho, as auxiliary of
the archdiocese of Braga (area 2,857, population 964,800, Catholics 886,700,
priests 465, permanent deacons 12, religious 676), Portugal. The bishop-elect
was born in Mozambique in 1961 and was ordained a priest in 1986. He studied
theology and philosophy, and holds a licentiate in history of the Church from
the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. In 2008 he was awarded a doctorate
from the Phoenix International University in the U.S.A. During his pastoral
ministry he has served as a professor of theology, spiritual director, canon
of the Cathedral, parish priest and religious assistant.

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 HOLY WEEK:

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 CHRISM MASS: ANOINTED WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS
 Vatican City, 17 April 2014 (VIS) - At 9.30 this morning, in the Vatican
Basilica, Pope Francis presided over the Holy Chrism Mass which is celebrated
today, Holy Thursday, in all Cathedral Churches throughout the world. The Holy
Father concelebrated with the Cardinals, Bishops and priests (diocesan and
religious) present in Rome. During the Eucharistic celebration, the priests
renewed the vows they made on the day of their ordination; the oils used for
catechumens, to anoint the sick, and for confirmation were then blessed.
Following the Gospel reading, the Pope pronounced the following homily:
 "In the eternal 'today' of Holy Thursday, when Christ showed his love for us
to the end, we recall the happy day of the institution of the priesthood, as
well as the day of our own priestly ordination. The Lord anointed us in Christ
with the oil of gladness, and this anointing invites us to accept and
appreciate this great gift: the gladness, the joy of being a priest. Priestly
joy is a priceless treasure, not only for the priest himself but for the
entire faithful people of God: that faithful people from which he is called to
be anointed and which he, in turn, is sent to anoint.
 Anointed with the oil of gladness so as to anoint others with the oil of
gladness. Priestly joy has its source in the Father’s love, and the Lord
wishes the joy of this Love to be 'ours' and to be 'complete'. I like to
reflect on joy by contemplating Our Lady, for Mary, the 'Mother of the living
Gospel, is a wellspring of joy for God’s little ones'. I do not think it is an
exaggeration to say that the priest is very little indeed: the incomparable
grandeur of the gift granted us for the ministry sets us among the least of
men. The priest is the poorest of men unless Jesus enriches him by his
poverty, the most useless of servants unless Jesus calls him his friend, the
most ignorant of men unless Jesus patiently teaches him as he did Peter, the
frailest of Christians unless the Good Shepherd strengthens him in the midst
of the flock. No one is more 'little' than a priest left to his own devices;
and so our prayer of protection against every snare of the Evil One is the
prayer of our Mother: I am a priest because he has regarded my littleness. And
in that littleness we find our joy. Joy in our littleness!
 For me, there are three significant features of our priestly joy. It is a joy
which anoints us (not one which 'greases' us, making us unctuous, sumptuous
and presumptuous), it is a joy which is imperishable and it is a missionary
joy which spreads and attracts, starting backwards - with those farthest away
from us.
 A joy which anoints us. In a word: it has penetrated deep within our hearts,
it has shaped them and strengthened them sacramentally. The signs of the
ordination liturgy speak to us of the Church’s maternal desire to pass on and
share with others all that the Lord has given us: the laying on of hands, the
anointing with sacred chrism, the clothing with sacred vestments, the first
consecration which immediately follows ... Grace fills us to the brim and
overflows, fully, abundantly and entirely in each priest. We are anointed down
to our very bones ... and our joy, which wells up from deep within, is the
echo of this anointing.
 An imperishable joy. The fullness of the Gift, which no one can take away or
increase, is an unfailing source of joy: an imperishable joy which the Lord
has promised no one can take from us. It can lie dormant, or be clogged by sin
or by life’s troubles, yet deep down it remains intact, like the embers of a
burnt log beneath the ashes, and it can always be renewed. Paul’s exhortation
to Timothy remains ever timely: I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God
that is within you through the laying on of my hands.
 A missionary joy. I would like especially to share with you and to stress
this third feature: priestly joy is deeply bound up with God’s holy and
faithful people, for it is an eminently missionary joy. Our anointing is meant
for anointing God’s holy and faithful people: for baptising and confirming
them, healing and sanctifying them, blessing, comforting and evangelising them.
 And since this joy is one which only springs up when the shepherd is in the
midst of his flock (for even in the silence of his prayer, the shepherd who
worships the Father is with his sheep), it is a 'guarded joy', watched over by
the flock itself. Even in those gloomy moments when everything looks dark and
a feeling of isolation takes hold of us, in those moments of listlessness and
boredom which at times overcome us in our priestly life (and which I too have
experienced), even in those moments God’s people are able to 'guard' that joy;
they are able to protect you, to embrace you and to help you open your heart
to find renewed joy.
 A 'guarded joy': one guarded by the flock but also guarded by three sisters
who surround it, tend it and defend it: sister poverty, sister fidelity and
sister obedience.
 The joy of priests is a joy which is sister to poverty. The priest is poor in
terms of purely human joy. He has given up so much! And because he is poor,
he, who gives so much to others, has to seek his joy from the Lord and from
God’s faithful people. He doesn’t need to try to create it for himself. We
know that our people are very generous in thanking priests for their slightest
blessing and especially for the sacraments. Many people, in speaking of the
crisis of priestly identity, fail to realise that identity presupposes
belonging. There is no identity - and consequently joy of life - without an
active and unwavering sense of belonging to God’s faithful people. The priest
who tries to find his priestly identity by soul-searching and introspection
may well encounter nothing more than 'exit' signs, signs that say: exit from
yourself, exit to seek God in adoration, go out and give your people what was
entrusted to you, for your people will make you feel and taste who you are,
what your name is, what your identity is, and they will make you rejoice in
that hundredfold which the Lord has promised to those who serve him. Unless
you 'exit' from yourself, the oil grows rancid and the anointing cannot be
fruitful. Going out from ourselves presupposes self-denial; it means poverty.
 Priestly joy is a joy which is sister to fidelity. Not primarily in the sense
that we are all 'immaculate' (would that by God’s grace we were!), for we are
sinners, but in the sense of an ever renewed fidelity to the one Bride, to the
Church. Here fruitfulness is key. The spiritual children which the Lord gives
each priest, the children he has baptised, the families he has blessed and
helped on their way, the sick he has comforted, the young people he catechises
and helps to grow, the poor he assists... all these are the 'Bride' whom he
rejoices to treat as his supreme and only love and to whom he is constantly
faithful. It is the living Church, with a first name and a last name, which
the priest shepherds in his parish or in the mission entrusted to him. That
mission brings him joy whenever he is faithful to it, whenever he does all
that he has to do and lets go of everything that he has to let go of, as long
as he stands firm amid the flock which the Lord has entrusted to him: Feed my
sheep.
 Priestly joy is a joy which is sister to obedience. An obedience to the
Church in the hierarchy which gives us, as it were, not simply the external
framework for our obedience: the parish to which I am sent, my ministerial
assignments, my particular work ... but also union with God the Father, the
source of all fatherhood. It is likewise an obedience to the Church in
service: in availability and readiness to serve everyone, always and as best I
can, following the example of 'Our Lady of Promptness' who hastens to serve
Elizabeth her kinswoman and is concerned for the kitchen of Cana when the wine
runs out. The availability of her priests makes the Church a house with open
doors, a refuge for sinners, a home for people living on the streets, a place
of loving care for the sick, a camp for the young, a classroom for catechising
children about to make their First Communion... Wherever God’s people have
desires or needs, there is the priest, who knows how to listen (ob-audire) and
feels a loving mandate from Christ who sends him to relieve that need with
mercy or to encourage those good desires with resourceful charity.

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 * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Meridian MS=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)