Pope Francis once again issues a call for priests to be more concise during their sermons. Last January 13, in a closed meeting with about 800 Romanian priests, he reiterated that sermons should not last more than 10 minutes. A call often ignored by priests who force the faithful on Sundays to endure endless discourses. “The sermon must help convey the Word of God from the Book of Life,” Bergoglio reiterated in the general audience today, June 12. This time, the Pope goes more specifically and outlines to the priests an ideal outline on which to base the sermon program: “The sermon must be short: an image, an idea, a feeling.”
Therefore, there is a need for short and concise sermons, so that they are at least listened to, and so that the believers sitting on the pews are prevented from closing their eyes out of boredom: “The sermon should not exceed eight minutes because after that time interest is lost and people fall asleep while they are right.” Aims The Pope also appeals to the many priests who talk too much about what is necessary, in vain attempts to demonstrate their culture with almost academic speeches and flights of fancy, often incomprehensible: “Priests sometimes talk too much – says Bergoglio – and you do not understand what they are talking about.”
This same call was made by Benedict XVI some time ago when he was still a cardinal, he recalls Corriere della Sera. Joseph Ratzinger told journalist Vittorio Messori: “For me, the confirmation of the divinity of the faith comes from the fact that it survives a few million sermons every Sunday.” As the Pope noted in October 2008, at the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Benedict XVI at that time also indicated “not to exceed eight minutes, which is the average concentration time of the listeners.”
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