Bishop of Rome to Ordain 8 for Diocese

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 27, 2012 (Zenit.org).- At 9 am on Sunday,  which is the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, the Holy Father will preside over a Mass in the Vatican Basilica during which he will confer priestly ordination on nine deacons from diocesan seminaries. Eight will become priests for the Diocese of Rome. Ordained together with them for the Diocese of Bui Chu in Vietnam will be Joseph Vu Van Hieu, also formed in the capital, at the Almo Collegio Capranica.

Also coming from the Capranica is Piero Gallo, 42, who has behind him a career as a magistrate and for eight years was an attorney of the state. 

Three of the new presbyters from the Major Pontifical Roman Seminary are Giuseppe Cippitelli, Claudio Fabbri and Alfredo Tedesco. The latter was formed in Catholic Action in the parish of Santa Maria della Mercede, engaged, with a degree in chemistry, he said that he soon realized that “the reality I was living was too narrow.” At 22, he entered the Major Seminary for the propaedeutic year. Also attending his ordination on Sunday at St. Peter’s will be his former fiancée with her future husband.

Finally, the last four ordinands were formed at the diocesan Redemptoris Mater College: the 30-year-old Ivorian Jean Florent Agbo; Colombian Jorge Alexander Suarez Barbaran, 32; Daniele Natalizi, 27 a native of Vicenza, and Roman Marco Santarelli, who will be 30 in November. A private airplane pilot with the dream of flying a Boeing 747 one day, Santarelli talked about the World Youth Day of Toronto in 2002 as the occasion when the Lord’s call reached him in a significant way “through the words of John Paul II who invited young people to follow Jesus Christ without fear.” Two years later, he entered the Seminary, accompanied by his Neo-Catechumenal Way community.