The Holy Father says the Church needs more priests available 24/7 for spiritual emergencies
• VATICAN CITY, August 17, 2015 (ChurchMilitant.com) - More priests need to be on call for all-night emergency spiritual care for the sick and elderly, says Pope Francis.
That was his message in a recent letter to Manuel Martin Sjoberg, head of the Federation of Priestly Emergency Services (FPES), a group of laymen who help priests stay available during all hours of the night for emergency cases.
"The coming extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy is a good occasion for intensifying the collaboration between pastors and laypeople in the mission of supporting with affection and tenderly assisting the sick and dying," wrote Pope Francis.
"In each of these 'little ones,' Christ Himself is present," he said, noting that Jesus will judge us on the basis of how we treat the neediest and most vulnerable of men.
Before he became Pope, the Holy Father used to be part of a service supported by the FPES, which operates in Argentina and Ecuador.
It was founded 60 years ago after Armando Cesar Sanchez, an Ecuadorian attorney, found himself in an emergency with his dying child. He needed to find his son spiritual end-of-life care and had driven to a dozen churches looking for a priest. He said that while plenty of other non-religious services — bars, pharmacies, bookstores, etc. — were all open, the churches were closed.
Hence, he created an organization to serve Catholics at times when bad things strike outside the normal hours of parish operation, when most priests have shut and locked the doors.