Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Clergy should focus on spiritual duties rather than acting as secular leaders. Overemphasizing temporal issues can distract from serving the Gospel.
In plain terms
Focus on your spiritual role instead of trying to lead socially or politically.
What can you take from it?
Prioritize spiritual mission over political engagement.

Where it applies

  • clerical guidance
  • church leadership debates
  • religious vocation

Putting it to work

  • clarify church mission
  • distinguish spiritual from secular

Questions to consider

  • How should religious leaders engage with political issues?
  • What defines a spiritual duty versus a temporal one?

Another view

This view may limit the church's ability to address social justice issues directly.

More from John Paul II (Pope)

  1. The vow of celibacy is a matter of keeping one's word to Christ and the Church. a duty and a proof of the priest's inner maturity; it is the expression of his …

    Permalink to quote #60
  2. I declare and ordain, by virtue of my apostolic authority, that the Church has no authority whatsoever to ordain women to the sacred orders and that this judgm…

    Permalink to quote #62
  3. War should belong to the tragic past, to history: it should find no place on humanity's agenda for the future.

    Permalink to quote #59

Related quotes

  1. Gentle Paul, laie doune thy sweard For Peter of Westminster hath shaven thy beard.

    John SkeltonJohn Skelton quote #3
  2. Follow the road behind the Emperor. We must build the world for Japan's sake, heaven ordered Japan to achieve this great mission.

    Kingoro HashimotoKingoro Hashimoto quote #3
  3. I do not overreach myself, for I too have my part to play with 'those whom he has called to himself and predestined' to teach the gospel in the midst of consid…

    Saint PatrickSaint Patrick quote #5