LIMA, Peru, JAN. 10, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, is promising Vatican aid for the social works carried out by the archbishopric of Lima, Peru.
«I thank God for having brought me here among you,» the cardinal said during a visit to the locality. «I have been able to hear your parish priest and I can say that the Lord is present in Manchay with his love and blessing. I would like to thank you for everything I have seen, for your work and I can say, on behalf of the Pope, that I wish to take part in your pastoral work. Manchay is the living presence of the providence of God.»
Located on sandy ground on the outskirts of Lima, and in need of water and vegetation, Manchay is an urban settlement of more than 70,000 inhabitants, which grew in the 80s as a consequence of centralization, extreme rural poverty and terrorist violence.
«I am certain that, if the Pope were here, he would have made the same promise to take part in pastoral work in this place,» Cardinal Sarah said. «I bless you and promise you that I will pray for each one of your families and for each one of you.»
The president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum also exhorted Manchay’s inhabitants to educate their children in the love of God. «May God grant you health and peace,» he said.
The cardinal explained to the settlers the work that Benedict XVI has entrusted to him in the pontifical council dedicated to charity, in order to be close to people who are suffering. For example, he noted how Cor Unum sent aid to Pisco, Peru, after the earthquake of Aug. 15, 2007.
He also explained another reason for his visit to Lima: to undertake a pilgrimage to the places where St. Rose lived, a saint to whom he is especially devoted.
«I am here to get to know Peru but above all to venerate a saint I have known since I was a child, St. Rose of Lima,» the cardinal, who is from Guinea, explained. «The patroness of my native parish is St. Rose of Lima and, in February, my parish in Africa will celebrate its 100th anniversary. And, to prepare myself and to prepare my people spiritually for the centenary, I wanted to come to Peru to make a pilgrimage to see the places where St. Rose of Lima lived.»
