Quale intelligenza per il ministero ordinato? note per una caratterizzazione

Alexandre Palma presents an original reflection on the fundamental traits of the intellectual profile required of the ordained ministers in the present historical moment. The study intends to linger on the form of this intelligence rather than on the pedagogical itineraries that can lead to it. The Author fulfills this task, first of all, by specifying the nature and meaning of intellectual formation in the life of the presbyter, to then detail in seven points the mindset made necessary by our time for those who have a leadership role in the Church. It is a complex intelligence, capable of operating with hermeneutic, logical and theological sensitivity, but also capable of dialogic and empathic sensitivity. However, the author recalls, the essential part of the ministerial mindset is an agapic intelligence: “It has truly touched the intelligence of life and faith only who has grasped that love is, simultaneously, the superior form of knowledge and the authentic way to reach it”.