"Nothing awakens a desire for the priesthood like service at the altar among the brotherhood of young men.
The second and more important reason, Illo said, is that "altar service is intrinsically tied to the priesthood and serve as feeder programs for the seminary".
"For John Paul," Berry told me just after returning from Good Friday services, "the priesthood had a romantic, chivalrous cast, and he could not bring himself to do a fearless investigation of the clerical culture itself.
In 1614 he entered the priesthood, but his continued service as secretary and panderer to his patron, the duke of Sessa, hindered him from obtaining the ecclesiastical benefits he sought.
In May 1963 he volunteered for a six month's extension of his tour, planning to attend seminary at the conclusion of his service and join the Catholic priesthood, hoping to return to Vietnam as a missionary working with orphans.
After a brief military service, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1941.
But then, Francis adds a note of considerable interest: "It can prove especially divisive if sacramental power is too closely identified with power in general.… The ministerial priesthood is one means employed by Jesus for the service of his people, yet our great dignity derives from baptism, which is accessible to all".
Both services were to mark Christ's founding of the priesthood at the Last Supper on the night before he died.
Most Christian churches, including the Roman Catholic, understand the clergy as persons functioning within the priesthood of all the people but ordained, or set aside, for particular service, especially in connection with eucharistic ministry.
After graduating from the University of Genoa, he studied for the priesthood in the Collegio Capranica in Rome and entered the papal diplomatic service, later spending four years in Spain before being employed in the department of the secretary of state (1887).
