35 -year -old priest suicide in Italy: 3 lessons of the sad fact for Catholics

Mexican priest Eduardo Hayen Cuarón shared 3 lessons for the faithful, after the suicide of a young 35 -year -old priest who has shocked Italy and Catholics in many parts of the world.

On July 5, Fr. Matteo Balzano, a 35 -year -old priest of the Italian Diocese of Novara, took his life, which raised great shock among the local faithful and a series of reflections in this regard.

In his X accountFr. Haen offered three lessons that can be extracted from this painful situation:

1. Pray for your soul and avoid condemnatory judgments

The director of the weekly presence of Ciudad Juárez in Mexico stressed that “only God is the judge who decides the fate of each person. In moments of confusion, as a church, to pray in pain and charity.”

2. Priests are not angels, they are human

“The priests,” said the Mexican priest, “we are not angels but human beings, each with their own history of joy, hope, sadness and difficult experiences.”

“In the ministry we face situations that give us a lot of joys, and others that need to have a lot of maturity to be able to handle pain situations that are quite complex,” he added.

Therefore, “we also need to rest with our family, friends, and have healthy distractions that repair our forces.”

3. Let’s not idealize priests

On this point, Fr. Hayen stressed that “like every human person we can cross for mental health crisis and moments of great inner darkness.”

“I know priests who go to the psychiatrist or the psychologist because they want to improve their mental health. These tools to improve mental health are positive because they have their origin in Jesus, who is a doctor of the body, mind and soul of the person, and who in his providence has left them to heal us,” said the Mexican presbyter.