In November 2015 Pope Francis addressed a conference sponsored by the Congregation for the Clergy marking the fiftieth anniversary of the proclamation of the Vatican II decree "Presbyterorum ordinis". He told delegates attending the conference, "The good that priests can do comes primarily from their proximity to – and a tender love for – their people. They are not philanthropists or functionaries, but fathers and brothers. ...Even priests have a biography, and are not 'mushrooms' which sprout up suddenly at the Cathedral on their day of ordination."