Addressing the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ annual plenary Sept. 26, Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi, the papal nuncio to Canada, recalled Pope Francis’ description of Pope Benedict XVI doing theology “on his knees,” and said kneeling in pastoral ministry is “no less essential.”

He urged the more than 80 bishops and eparchs from across Canada to listen to what God will say to them, “knowing that He Himself, who has called us to undertake the arduous and enthusiastic journey of apostolic ministry, will not fail to show us the way.”

In addition to “kneeling before God,” Bonazzi urged the bishops to also kneel “before each brother and sister as ‘servants of God’ present in every human being.”

He reminded them of Pope Francis’ concern pastors remain rooted with the flock they serve “from within,” sometimes ahead leading, sometimes retracing steps to ensure no one is left behind, and standing in the middle to know the “pulse of the people,” as expressed to Cardinal Marc Ouellet in a letter last March.

“We have to remember — especially in these moments — that on the barque of the Church there is the Lord, that the barque of the Church is not mine, nor ours, but is the Lord’s,” said Bonazzi. “And the Lord will not allow it to sink. It is the Lord who guides it and who asks for this goal: our collaboration, humble but also full and generous.”

The nuncio also spoke of Pope Francis’ desire for reform, not only of the Roman Curia, but also of the Church, so as “to conform herself personally and communally to her original form who is Christ.”

Bonazzi also asked the Canadian bishops to view their annual plenary as a “renewed experience of the Cenacle,” that “place where Pentecost happens, where the Holy Spirit creates and renews the Church.”

Instead of a “formal and protocolled event,” he urged the bishops “to open yourselves to the dynamic action of the Spirit” who not only is an expert on the “depths of God, but also of the human heart.”