Quebec: On the fifth day of his apostolic visit to Canada, Pope Francis invited Canadian priests to confront the challenges of the secular world. During a speech at the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Quebec on Thursday, the Pope called on Canada's bishops, priests and pastors to overcome challenges that hinder the profession of faith.

He pointed out that readings at the vespers speak about elders (presbyters), noting that St. Peter urged them to tend the flock of God willingly, and so, the Church’s pastors are invited “to show that same generosity in tending the flock, in order to manifest Jesus’ concern for everyone and his compassion for the wounds of each.”

Tending the flock, the Pope said, should be done “with devotion and tender love” – as St. Peter urges - guiding it and not allowing it to go astray, because “we are a sign of Christ.” Pastors should do this willingly, not as a duty, like professional religious personnel or sacred functionaries but “zealously and with the heart of a shepherd.”

The Pope pointed out that the pastors too are “tended” with Christ's merciful love and feel the closeness of God. This, he affirmed, is “the source of the joy of ministry and above all the joy of faith.”

“Christian joy is about the experience of a peace that remains in our hearts, even when we are pelted by trials and afflictions,” the Pope said, “for then we know that we are not alone, but accompanied by a God who is not indifferent to our lot.”

He explained that this is not a “cheap joy” like the world sometimes proposes, or about wealth, comfort and security, rather, “it is a free gift, the certainty of knowing that we are loved, sustained and embraced by Christ in every situation in life.”

Reflecting on the joy of the Gospel in our communities, the Pope pointed at secularization as one of the factors that “threatens the joy of faith and thus risks diminishing it and compromising our lives as Christians.”

He laments that secularization has greatly affected the lifestyle of contemporary men and women, who relegate God to the background. “God seems to have disappeared from the horizon, and his word no longer seems a compass guiding our lives, our basic decisions, our human and social relationships,” the Pope said.

To refine our discernment of the secularized world, the Holy Father recommends drawing inspiration from Paul VI who saw secularization as “the effort, in itself just and legitimate and in no way incompatible with faith or religion” to discover the laws governing reality and human life implanted by the Creator. 

Paul VI also distinguished between secularization and secularism which generates subtle and diverse “new forms of atheism,” including consumer society, pleasure set up as a supreme value, a desire for power and domination, and discrimination of all kinds.

As Church and as shepherds of God’s People and pastoral workers, therefore, the Pope says it is up to us to “make these distinctions” and “make this discernment”, adding that if we yield to the negative view, we risk sending the wrong message – as though the criticism of secularization masks “the nostalgia for a sacralized world, a bygone society in which the Church and her ministers had greater power and social relevance.”- the Pope added.