Letter from Pope Paul VI: To our venerable Brother John Joseph Cardinal Wright Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy

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Part of Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas

Title: Letter from Pope Paul VI: To our venerable Brother John Joseph Cardinal Wright Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy
Language: English
Year: 1972
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Fulltext: LETTER FROM POPE PAUL VI TO OUR VENERABLE BROTHER JOHN JOSEPH CARDINAL WRIGHT PREFECT OF THE SACRED CONGREGATION FOR THE CLERGY Toward the end of this month of June the happy memory of a blessed event in your life, Venerable Brother, will present itself once again to mind: for a full twenty-five years will have passed from the time you received your episcopal ordination and thereby were numbered among the first-rank leaders of the pilgrim people of God on earth. The loving regard which We have for your person inspires Us to undertake this gratifying duty of kindness and to hasten to make this anniversary, which is about to dawn, all the happier through Our good wishes and congratulations. Certainly as We reflect upon the many and various functions which you have carried out in the Church up to the present, We are convinced that you above all deserve to be the object of those encouraging words in the Bible: “Possess Wisdom, because it is better than gold, acquire prudence, because it is more precious than silver. . . The heart of the wise man will instruct his lips, and will add chArm to the words of his mouth’’ (Prov. 16, 16, 23). OUTSTANDING IN GOODNESS For especially as the bishop Worcester and for ten years as the pastor of the flock in Pitssburgh you did an outstanding amount of good to assure the growth of Catholicism; you merited for yourself a good name and left on example of those qualities which are a great help to bishops in exercising their important ministry: namely, vigilant concern for Catholic unity, * L’Osservatore Romano July 13, 1972. 506 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS careful guidance and care for seminarians, active works of mercy toward the needy, agreeable mannerisms and that which is the epitome and queen of all the other virtues, goodness. Now that you have been called to Rome to preside over the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy, you are working intelligently and prudently to preserve the Catholic faith intact, to teach that faith and to reinforce the training of the clergy. For if a pure and clear concept of God is maintained, it immediately opens the way to an increase in the spiritual life as well as to interior and exterior dignity and peace, while on the other hand ignorance of these truths brings with it every possible error and final anarchy in any society. INVOKING ENLIGHTENMENT As you are engaged in such difficult tasks, may Jesus Christ himself, the Word of the Father who is "light of light, the font of light, the day * illuminating every day” (St. Ambrose, Morning Song) enlighten your mind and assist you in undertakings in order that through your prudence, piety and zeal you may lay up for yourself rich treasures in heaven, and that by harmonizing your works with your words in an exemplary way your speech may be that of the Lord — instructive, pure and clear, like silver cleansed in fire and purified seven times (Ps. 11, 7). May this hope then which is supported by fervent prayers, become a complete reality through the intercession of the most Blessed Virgin Mary, the guide along every straight path and the Star of the Sea. We sincerely wish that this may all come about and for that reason We impart to you our Apostolic Blessing. From the Vatican, 3 June 1972, in the ninth year of our Pontificate. PAULUS PP. VI