In a homily Saturday at Xavier Castle, Archbishop Fernando Sebastian of Pamplona presented Francis Xavier as a model at a time «when in our country and in the whole of the West we live under the temptation to organize our lives without God, without Christ, without religion, as if that were a way of freedom, progress and happiness.»
The saint «comes to remind us that the future of humanity is only in Christ,» affirmed the archbishop.
Among the concelebrants were the apostolic nuncio in Spain, Archbishop Manuel Monteiro de Castro, and the superior general of the Society of Jesus, Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach.
At the end of the celebration, a document of the Apostolic Penitentiary was read, signed by Cardinal James Stafford, granting a plenary indulgence to all those who go on pilgrimage during the year to the Cathedral of Pamplona, the Xavier parish and the castle.
