By Daniel Payne

CNA Staff, December 23, 2024 / 1:30 p.m.

Papal preacher Father Roberto Pasolini has urged Church leaders to embrace the quality of “smallness” ahead of the Christmas holidays, calling on the faithful to imitate Christ and objecting to the need to feel “important in the eyes of others.”

Pasolini, who was appointed to the post of papal preacher last month, told members of the Roman Curia on December 20 that God “sees smallness not as a limitation but as a precious resource.”

He cited the teachings of Christ, who clearly stated that “only those who make themselves small, like little children, will enter the kingdom of God.” Catholic News Service reported (CNS), the news agency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The preacher’s remarks were part of reflections on Advent given in the Vatican’s Paul VI audience room. The Capuchin priest has regularly made similar remarks throughout the Advent season, with Friday’s speech being the last before Christmas on December 25.

Pasolini cited the example of St. Francis of Assisi – from whom Pope Francis took his papal name – as one who “took seriously this destiny of smallness.”

The first Francis “understood that the primary task of the Church was not only to do good for others but to enable others to do good for us,” Pasolini said, according to CNS.

Pride, the priest said, “created discomfort in the face of our smallness.”

“At first we were all naked and unashamed, but now this smallness has become a source of embarrassment,” he said.

“The fear and shame of not being enough, of not being capable, push us to take on roles and actions to feel important in the eyes of others. »

Pasolini urged leaders to “take the liberty of presenting ourselves with a little less fear and without the unnecessary shame of being smaller than we once were, or perhaps even than we thought we should be, to manifest ourselves as witnesses to the Gospel. »

“In Christ Jesus, we can present ourselves to one another and to God in one spirit, to share the same heritage and participate in the same promise through the gospel,” he said.

Daniel Payne is an editor at the Catholic News Agency. He previously worked at the College Fix and Just the News. He lives in Virginia with his family.