Thanks to the quirks of the calendar, today isn’t the feast of the patron of parish priests, St John Vianney – with few exceptions, the Sunday supersedes the memorial of the Cure of Ars. However, that today marks the 160th anniversary of the famously tireless French pastor’s death at 73 brought the release of a surprise letter from the Pope to all the 400,000-plus priests of the world: the first-ever missive to the global rank-and-file which specifically, and intensely, expresses a pontiff’s appreciation for their continued witness in the face of the burden placed upon them by the church’s ongoing torrent of abuse crises.
