SW News:

Pope Francis warned the priests of Rome in a letter that was recently made public that spiritual worldliness is one of the most serious temptations that priests and the Church must guard against because it reduces spirituality to appearance while severing from the Gospel.
For the Lord's comfort to fully reach everyone the pope exhorted the Roman priests to work with the laity to establish synodal forms and pathways that would help free the clergy from material things. He thanked the priests of Rome for their often unrecognized service.
The Holy Father delivered his message in a lengthy letter that was made public by the Vatican on Monday but was dated August 5, the anniversary of the dedication of Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major.
The letter is roughly seven pages long and Pope Francis prepared it amid the WYD's various appointments. The text is also the result of the Pope's prayers before Salus Populi Romani, whom he has entrusted with the care of all the priests of the Urbe.
"I have asked her to guard and protect you, to dry your secret tears, to revive in you the joy of the ministry, and to make you every day shepherds in love with Jesus," said the Holy Father.
The Pope uses the imagery of "milk" and "wool" that which nourishes and warms to caution against the danger of a comfortable life. When we are only thinking about milk, we are thinking about our benefit; when we are only thinking about wool, we are thinking about maintaining our reputation and achieving greater success. Thus, he argues, we lose the priestly spirit.
Clericalism can affect everyone, even lay people and pastoral workers: one can assume 'a clerical spirit' in carrying out ministries and charisms, living one's calling in an elitist manner, closing oneself within one's group and erecting walls towards the outside, developing possessive bonds towards roles in the community, cultivating arrogant and boastful attitudes towards others.