The necessity for this Christian renewal, which all men of good will appreciate, urges Us to turn Our thoughts and affections in a special way to the priests of the whole world because We know that their humble, vigilant and painstaking work among the people, whose difficulties, sufferings and bodily as well as spiritual needs they realize, is capable of restoring morals through the practice of the precepts of the Gospel and of establishing firmly on earth the Kingdom of Christ, “a Kingdom of justice, love and peace”.3Praef. Miss. in festo Iesu Christi Regis.
But the priesthood cannot in any way procure the full effects which are demanded by the needs of the present time unless the priests shine forth among the people with the marks of sanctity, as worthy “ministers of Christ,” faithful “dispensers of the mysteries of God”,4Cf. I Cor., IV, 1. “God’s helpers,”5Cf. I Cor., III, 9. and ready for every noble work.6Cf. II Tim., III, 17.