Nuncio emeritus warns against clericalisation of lay people

The Swiss cardinal and former Apostolic Nuncio to Italy and San Marino, Emil Paul Tscherrigwarns against replacing ordained priests with a kind of lay priesthood. This often leads to tensions. "The priest has his task, the laity theirs: only in the cooperation and complementarity of these two vocations are we the Church, as the Second Vatican Council taught us," emphasised the nuncio emeritus in an interview with the internet portal "kath.ch" on Monday. The Church is a people on a journey and must constantly come to terms with the changes in the world.

The question of "viri probati" is an old discussion. On the one hand, there are priests who have converted from other denominations and continued their ministry in the Catholic Church, as well as those who decided to enter the priesthood at a later stage in their lives. "On the other hand, in the current legal situation, women are excluded from the permanent diaconate. It is possible that this question will become a topic of discussion again in the current synod," says Tscherrig. In the church, not everyone has to do everything, especially lay people should not be turned into clergy. From the global synodal processwhich enters its second and final phase in autumn, the nuncio emeritus hopes for "greater cooperation within the Church". The Church needs the laity not only as assistants to the ordained ministers, but also as baptised people who "participate in the mission of the Church on their own responsibility", Tscherrig continued. As an example, he cited the extraordinary communion assistants, who are a great help where priests cannot be present at all times. "Efficient cooperation in this sense would indeed be a kind of 'revolution' in the life of many churches," he concluded.

Pope Francis had invited Tscherrig to the consistory last autumn into the College of Cardinals last autumn. Shortly afterwards, he was appointed a member of the highest ecclesiastical court, the Apostolic Signature. Tscherrig has been in the diplomatic service of the Holy See since 1978. In addition to Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, Granada and Barbados, he was nuncio in South Korea, Mongolia, the Nordic countries of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway, as well as in Argentina and was the first non-Italian to serve in Italy and San Marino. He has been a member of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints since February and of the Dicastery for Bishops since May. His term of office as nuncio ended in March. (mtr)