The Vatican’s ambassador to Poland (seen on the left) had some sharp words for Poland’s priests, telling them in effect to stop inserting politics into their homilies:

“I wish liturgical services in Poland would not turn into public rallies and just dispose people to be more human and more Catholic,” said Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk, the Vatican’s ambassador, or nuncio.

“We need priests, not politicians – and if politicians, then politicians of God’s word,” said the archbishop, whose sermon was carried by Poland’s Catholic information agency, KAI. “We also need evangelists, not economists – we have enough of those already in Poland to do the job. Let’s work on their spirit and conscience so they’ll become true professionals in serving all society. This is the mission of a priest.”

Preaching June 11 in Czuma, near Lublin, the nuncio said: “The times are over when people went to priests on every occasion, to arrange plumbing or telephones for their villages, and elected priests as council chairmen hoping they’d organize such things. This epoch has ended.”

On a hunch, I can’t quite imagine the same message being delivered to priests (or deacons) in America. When was the last time you heard a homily that touched even remotely on anything political? (Long silence, while the wind blows and a tumbleweed scuttles down Main Street…)