If the challenge of military ordinariates is to evangelize the military world, making possible an encounter with Jesus Christ and the holiness to which all men are called, it seems evident that the priests who are committed in this ministry must have a solid human and spiritual formation, constant attention to their own interior life and, at the same time, be ready to listen and to dialogue, to be able to accept the personal and environmental difficulties of the individuals entrusted to them. These people, in fact, need constant support along their journey of faith, given that the religious dimension has special meaning also in the life of a soldier. The reason for the existence of military ordinariates, that is, spiritual assistance to faithful in the armed forces and the police, makes reference to the solicitude with which the Church has wished to offer military faithful and their families all the means of salvation to give them ordinary pastoral attention and the specific help they need to develop their mission with the style of Christian charity. A Christian’s military life, in fact, is placed in relation to the first and greatest commandment, that of love of God and of neighbor, because the Christian military man is called to realize a synthesis that makes it possible to be a military man out of love, fulfilling the ministerium pacis inter arma.
I am referring, especially, to charity exercised by soldiers who rescue earthquake and flood victims, and also fugitives, putting their courage and competence at the disposal of the weakest.
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Benedict XVI's Address to the International Meeting of Military Ordinariates
If the challenge of military ordinariates is to evangelize the military world, making possible an encounter with Jesus Christ and the holiness to which all men are called, it seems evident that the priests who are committed in this ministry must have a solid human and spiritual formation, constant attention to their own interior life and, at the same time, be ready to listen and to dialogue, to be able to accept the personal and environmental difficulties of the individuals entrusted to them. These people, in fact, need constant support along their journey of faith, given that the religious dimension has special meaning also in the life of a soldier. The reason for the existence of military ordinariates, that is, spiritual assistance to faithful in the armed forces and the police, makes reference to the solicitude with which the Church has wished to offer military faithful and their families all the means of salvation to give them ordinary pastoral attention and the specific help they need to develop their mission with the style of Christian charity. A Christian’s military life, in fact, is placed in relation to the first and greatest commandment, that of love of God and of neighbor, because the Christian military man is called to realize a synthesis that makes it possible to be a military man out of love, fulfilling the ministerium pacis inter arma.
I am referring, especially, to charity exercised by soldiers who rescue earthquake and flood victims, and also fugitives, putting their courage and competence at the disposal of the weakest.
Read it all.