Pope Francis had some belittling words for any priests who chose to defy the COVID-19 lockdown orders and give the sacraments to their congregations, despite being ordered told not to by church leadership.
Francis made the comments during his address to several bishops and health care workers, where he heaped effusive praise on nurses and doctors who were on the front lines offering peace and comfort to the populace.
He then turned to Catholics who had been sheltering in place, thanking them for their compliance, and lauded the priests who ministered to parishioners in “creative ways”, such as knocking on their doors and offering to “go shopping” for them, saying :
“ The pastoral zeal and the creative concern of the priests have helped people to continue the path of faith and not to remain alone in the face of pain and fear. ”
Expressing his dissatisfaction with priests who did not do that, however, and instead chose to offer their congregation the sacraments of confession and communion, Francis continues:
“This priestly creativity that has won some, few, “adolescent” expressions against the measures of authority, which has the obligation to protect the health of the people…these priests who remained with their people in caring and daily sharing: they were a sign of the consoling presence of God. They were fathers, not teenagers. “
In short, Francis is saying that they were acting like a bunch of kids- not listening to instructions, doing their own thing, putting lives at risk, when they could have been doing creative works such as making phone calls and shopping for their prisoners, not uncreative things such as their false religion demands.
