Pope Francis ordains 20; tells them not to give “boring homilies”

Pope Francis has warned a group of newly ordained priests not to deliver “boring homilies”.

The Pope made the off the cuff remarks on Sunday at St Peter’s Basilica as he presided over the ordinations of 19 priests for the diocese of Rome.

Ensure “that your homilies are not boring; that your homilies reach the heart of the people, because they come from your hearts,” he said, according to Catholic News Agency.

“What you say to them is what you have in your heart.”

Pope Francis told the men that “a priest is ugly who lives for his own pleasure,” adding that such a priest “acts like a peacock.”

According to Vatican Radio the majority of the men ordained by the pontiff were part of Roman seminaries, including the Pontifical Roman Seminary and the Madonna del Divino Amore seminary.

In his words of advice to the newly ordained priests, the Pope also said they must not offer God’s Word without giving a good example.

“Words without example are empty words,” he said. “They are ideas that do not reach the heart, and may even cause injury.”