Like in the good old days. Even the neighborhood, in via Piemonte, in Sinnai, parish of Sant'Isidoro, dressed up today to welcome Claudio Pireddu, 27 years old, new priest of Sinnai. Yesterday evening in the cathedral in Cagliari, he received ordination from the archbishop Giuseppe Baturi. With tears of emotion from his mother Teresa and father Mariano. A beautiful story that almost sounds like a fairy tale in times when vocations among young people are increasingly fewer. Today Don Claudio celebrated his first Mass in Sinnai, in the parish of Sant'Isidoro.
What did you want to do as a child?
"I said I wanted to be a doctor. I succeeded, becoming a "doctor of souls"."
Does it scare you just to think that there is a lack of so many priests today? What would you say to propose to young people the vocation to the priesthood?
"I don't think we have any hidden formula to solve problems. However, we have the presence of God that makes us live things differently: we shouldn't think that there are fewer vocations, but what drives today's youth to follow this path and be happy. The Jubilee of Hope is about to open: I am confident. We have God at our side."
What drives a 27-year-old boy to become a priest?
"What led me to choose the ministerial priesthood is not something that can be summed up in one or two events, but a confirmation, day after day, that the path taken is the right one for me. If I had to summarize the meaning of my being a priest today, I would say that the Presbyter is "he who searches for the presence of God in what people experience". I thank those who have donated their time to recognize God who speaks in my life".
What would you like to say to young people today?
"Vocation is what makes one experience the need to create, to produce in the world. Here is the invitation: to follow the voice in which each of us feels authentic, because it is there that we encounter the voice of a God who calls us to a mission in this world."