The XI Clergy Symposium began today in Fatima at the Paulo VI Center, running through September 3, 2026, under the theme "Brothers in the Priesthood and Witnesses to the Gospel." In the opening session, Bishop Virgílio Antunes, president of the Portuguese Bishops' Conference, outlined "specific challenges" facing the clergy, emphasizing the need to ensure that each community is a "healthy and safe place for all, where respect for each person prevails and where there is no form of abuse."
The Bishop of Coimbra warned of the "frequently negative view" with which the Church and its clergy are regarded by today's society, noting that this is sometimes due to "prejudices" and other times to "personal weaknesses." He emphasized that neither "the struggle and open confrontation with secularized or hostile society" nor "fleeing the world to fortresses" are adequate paths, as they make priests "harsh and distant people."
Bishop Virgílio Antunes defended the need for a "strong rootedness in Christ" and a "serious deepening of Christian spirituality," grounded in the Word of God, the Eucharist, and the Sacraments. He also pointed to the urgency of intensifying community life, both in presbyteries and in insertion within the Christian community, noting that priests "cannot become hostages of the multiplicity of activities, of overoccupation of time, or of demands sometimes more driven by social and cultural traditions than by the zeal of faith."
