The Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy lists several meanings or senses of the term pastoral: 1) that related to the shepherd; 2) by derivation, an artistic composition (literary, musical or pictorial) that evokes the world of shepherds and the countryside, for example, a pastoral symphony; 3) that which pertains to the ecclesiastical pastor or his activity (thus we speak of the pastoral work of the bishop or the pastoral guidelines of the hierarchy); 4) a further meaning is the activity of spiritual direction developed by the Church among its faithful.

In an anthropological perspective Heidegger wrote that man - every man - is a "shepherd" of being; he has to be concerned not only with himself, but with humanity and all that exists, in a deep and all-encompassing sense.

From the point of view of theological reflection, four senses can be distinguished, which we list from the strictest to the broadest.

With reference letter to the hierarchical pastors

1) Strictest sense, referring to the task of ecclesiastical pastors, and more specifically to the part of that task that involves canonical government and spiritual guide ; that is, to the third of the "offices" (munera) that the hierarchy shares from Christ (teaching, sanctifying and governing). Just as Christ is the "good shepherd" (cf. Jn, ch. 10) who knows and guide his sheep, so the hierarchical pastors (especially the bishops) have as mission statement that of governing and guiding the faithful spiritually (related to the last of the senses of our dictionary).

2) Strict sense, which encompasses all that hierarchical pastors do. It is usually expressed with reference letter to the three offices or "munera" that the hierarchy shares from Christ for its function in the Church: munus docendi (official document to teach), munus sanctificandi (to sanctify) and munus regendi (to govern and guide the faithful).

As we have seen, this sense is the one that is picked up in third place by the Spanish dictionary, when it speaks of "pastoral tasks". In relation to these tasks or activities of the ecclesiastical hierarchy we find expressions such as pastoral year (from internship), conference or pastoral weeks, pastoral ring (symbol of dignity, prudence and spiritual espousal with the Church, and therefore expresses the episcopal functions), pastoral letter, visit pastoral and pastoral crozier (the "staff" of the shepherd). As can be seen, the ministry of ruling or governing(munus regendi) is included here and is considered inseparable from the ministry of teaching and sanctifying.

Some not so correct derivations

From these two senses, and without departing from them, there are two derivations. A popular use is that of "doing pastoral work" or "going pastoral", when one wishes to contrast practical tasks (especially parish work) with others (especially study) that are more theoretical or speculative. Thus "pastoral" is contrasted with "theological or academic", although it is often forgotten that pastoral tasks have a theological dimension - they must be carried out at least in a theological or faith perspective, and not purely sociological - and that theology has a pastoral dimension - it is not only science but also wisdom and service.

A second derivation, completely inappropriate, consists in identifying the pastoral with the easy, the diluted or the cheap. In this way, theology has come to be contrasted with theology as a task that requires a reflective effort, and pastoral ministry as a task that merely requires internship, which does not require reflection or analysis, but only skill or experience.

In connection with the Church's evangelization mission statement

3) A broader sense of "pastoral" than the previous ones is the one used by the Second Vatican Council when, in the Decree Ad gentes, it explains the activities of the one mission statement of the Church, making a tripartite division: "ad extra" or "ad gentes" activity (outward or toward the nations, proper to missionaries, directed toward non-Christians and non-believers); "pastoral" activity which is that which the Church develops toward the faithful (Catholics); and a third activity in order to promote the "unity of Christians" (ecumenism), that is, between Catholics and non-Catholic Christians.

promote The second of these tasks or activities is therefore called "pastoral" not only insofar as it is proper to the ecclesiastical hierarchy, but also insofar as it consists in evangelizing the Church "ad intra"; that is, training and the apostolate among the Catholic faithful within the particular Churches and in communion with the universal Church. As corresponds to the teaching of the Council, this evangelizing task "ad intra" (inward) is not exclusive to the hierarchy, but the faithful also collaborate in it by virtue of their condition as baptized persons. In this sense, all Christians are - we must be - "good shepherds" of others.

 The text literally states: "Missionary activity among the nations differs both from the pastoral activity to be carried out in relation to the faithful[erga fideles] and from the means to be used to achieve Christian unity" (AG 6).

4) The term "pastoral" acquired a very broad meaning during the Second Vatican Council. This sense is equivalent to all that the Church does in the whole of her evangelizing mission statement -including the inculturation of the faith, human promotion, etc.-, while maintaining, in this mission statement, the tasks proper to the pastors (hierarchical) and to the faithful, according to their conditions and gifts, ministries and charisms. Thus it can be said that the mission statement of the Church is an evangelizing or pastoral mission statement .

This sense is seen, for example, in the degree scroll of the Constitution Gaudium et spes, which is called "Pastoral Constitution" on the Church in today's world, being thus not limited to exposing the mission statement of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, nor limited to evangelizing issues "ad intra" of the Church, but projected its mission statement on the horizon of the world, of cultures and of all subject of people.

The pastoral character of Vatican Council II

This last sense of "pastoral", equivalent as we say to the whole of the Church's mission statement or evangelization (also in its broader senses), is implied when it is said that the Second Vatican Council had a "pastoral character", used a "pastoral language" or manifested a "pastoral sensitivity". As we know from the interventions of the pontiffs who promoted or supported it - John XXIII and Paul VI - this meant that the Council had to concern itself with the people of our time in order to proclaim to them the essence of the Good News (the Gospel) in an open, direct and positive way, so that they could grasp and accept it.

Paradigmatic of this employment is the use that John XXIII made of this adjective in his opening speech of the Second Vatican Council (Allocution Gaudet Mater Ecclesiae, October 11, 1962): "One thing is the substance of the ancient doctrine, of the 'depositum fidei', and another the manner of formulating its expression; and great account must be taken of this - with patience, if necessary - in keeping with the norms and demands of a magisterium that is predominantly pastoral in character".

This general and very broad sense - without excluding the previous ones - of the word "pastoral" is what is at the forefront of the call for a "pastoral conversion" that should affect all Christians and the whole Church (cf. Exhort. Evangelii Gaudium, 25 ff.), as a synonym of the missionary transformation that we need in our time.

Along these lines, we can also speak of the pastoral dimension of theology (or of the "pastorality" of theology), in the sense of its dimension of service to Christian life, to the Church's mission statement and in general to society and the world.

In this perspective, but taking into account the previous meanings, we can understand these two paragraphs of Joseph Ratzinger, taken from a text of his from 1963 - while he was an expert during the work of the Second Vatican Council - in which he explains the correct meaning that should be given to the term "pastoral" and denounces its deformations:

"Pastoral should not mean: diffuse, insubstantial, merely edifying, as here and there it was misunderstood. Rather it should mean: formulated with a positive concern for modern man, who is not financial aid with condemnations and who for a long time has heard all the wrong things he should not do, but who finally wants to hear (too little has he heard) what is true, with what positive message the faith wants to face our times, what it has positive to teach and to say.../....

Pastoral should not mean: vague and imprecise, but it should mean: Exempt of school disputes, without meddling in questions that only concern scholars, without any further division of the possibility of discussion among them at a time when everything is full of new tasks and demands from them an open analysis. "Pastoral" was to mean, finally: not in an academic language (which there, that is, in the academic sphere, has its meaning and is necessary, but does not correspond in the advertisement and in the profession of faith), but in the language of Scripture, of the Fathers, of the men of today; simply in the living language of man, of the man who is always one" (J. Ratzinger [text of 1963] in Idem, Collected Works VII/1. On the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, BAC, Madrid 2014, pp. 260-261).