Son's call to priesthood becomes vocation for parents, pope says

Published: 2008-02-04

ROME (CNS) -- A son's call to the priesthood often becomes a vocation for his parents as well, Pope Benedict XVI said. "You were probably more surprised than anyone about what happened and is happening to your sons," the pope told the parents of students at Rome's major seminary Feb. 1. "Trying to understand them and following their progress, you, too, dear fathers and mothers, often have found yourselves involved in a journey in which your faith is reinforced and renewed," he said. Pope Benedict led an evening prayer service at the Rome seminary in the presence of the staff, the students and many of their parents. He told the parents that he knew many of them had another future in mind for their sons, and he imagined they had often reflected on the earliest signs of their sons' vocations or "in some cases, on the contrary, on the years in which the life of your son seemed far from the church."

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