Pope says ‘no’ to long homilies

Pope Francis (File photo by Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk via Catholic Church England and Wales/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

By ANSA, Philippine News Agency

ROME – Pope Francis said at his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Wednesday that priests should avoid over-long homilies, which should be 10 minutes maximum.

“Many times there are long sermons, 20, 30 minutes,” the Pope observed off the cuff.

“The sermon must contain an idea and an invitation to do things, maximum eight to ten minutes, please, beyond that we don’t follow any further. Sometimes we see men who during the sermon leave the church to smoke a cigarette, then go back in.”

“The sermon must be an idea and a proposal to do,” he reiterated, “and not go beyond 10 minutes, no, never.”

“This is very important. Priests must not preach about themselves, but about the Gospel.

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