According to “Vatican News,” this Prize sees in the concept of integral ecology, expressed by the Holy Father, especially in the Encyclical Laudato Si’, “a new vision that can become a beacon.”

The Pope was awarded for “having put at the center of his pontifical action the subject of integral ecology and the shared cultural patrimony in a logic of sustainable development and universal solidarity, addressing every person that inhabits our planet,” reads the letter announcing the Prize. His work stresses “the duty of everyone to do their part in the Common Home.”

This international Prize is titled “Io Faccio la Mia Parte” (I Do My Part”), and it consists of a small sculpture made from recycled material, which represents a hummingbird of an African fable. It’s said that during a forest fire, while all animals fled to the river, the hummingbird flew in the opposite direction, taking a drop of water in its beak and saying: “I do my part.”

The Pope’s message goes beyond ecology, given its intensity and universality, explained lawyer Ottavio Maria Capparella, head of the Association’s Juridical Office and Delegate for institutional relations with the Vatican. And this message is simple and accessible to all, he added

In a letter to Pope Francis, dated November 16, the Association’s President, Franco Floris, paid tribute to the Pontiff’s teaching, who has “made the necessary appeals, not only to institutions and the powerful of the world but to all that live on our planet, entrusting to them the duty to do ‘their part,’ including through daily actions.”

Translation by Virginia M. Forrester

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The Holy Father has also received messages from personalities and religious leaders, as well as from Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI.

It’s appropriate to recall on the day of the Pope’s birth his constant requests for prayers in his addresses, “Please, don’t forget to pray for me,” he repeats in virtually all his addresses.

The Pope’s Year 2020

This year, marked by the COVID-19 health emergency, there have been memorable moments for the Successor of Peter and the Church. We recall some of them here.

Published on February 12, 2020, was the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Querida Amazonia,” document that was the fruit of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazonian Region, titled “Amazonia: New Paths for the Church and for An Integral Ecology,” held in the Vatican from October 6-27, 2019.

The COVID-19 Pandemic

After the outbreak of the coronavirus, on Friday, March 27 the Successor of Peter presided over an extraordinary moment of prayer for an end to the pandemic, in which he imparted the Urbi et Orbi blessing to Rome and the world.

On a rainy evening and in an empty Saint Peter’s Square, given the restrictions imposed by the Health Authorities to overcome COVID-19, the Pontiff invited humanity to “embrace the Lord in order to embrace hope,” to combat fear in the crisis caused by the virus. “This is the strength of faith, which frees from fear and gives hope,” he said.

Then, in the month of April, the Holy Father created an emergency fund in the Pontifical Missionary Societies and another for the Oriental Churches, to help people and communities tragically affected by the spread of the virus. Much aid has been channeled through these funds to different countries.

Fratelli Tutti

More recently, on October 8, 2020, the Pontiff’s third Encyclical, Fratelli Tutti [Brothers All] was published to foster a global aspiration to fraternity and social friendship.

Divided in eight chapters, this document attempts to identity the great ideals, but also the concrete ways to follow by those that want to build a more just and fraternal world in its daily relations, in social life, in politics and in institutions.

Education, Peace, Economy

That same month, the Bishop of Rome appealed for adherence to the Global Educational Pact to “humanize the world.” Together with representatives of the world’s principal religions, he signed an Appeal for Peace during the 34^th International Prayer for Peace Meeting in Rome’s Campidoglio.

In November, during the closing of the Economy of Francis event, the Pontiff sent a Video-Message to the young participants connected with the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, Italy. It resulted in a Pact that the Holy Father signed, virtually, for a new economy on a human scale.

“Pope Francis and Young People of the Whole World for Tomorrow’s Economy,” an international event promoted by the Pontiff, gathered young economists and businessmen from all over the world. He invited them to take part in a shared commitment, a process of global change, inspired in the spirit of Saint Francis.

Year Dedicated to Saint Joseph

In the Apostolic Letter Patris Corde (with a Father’s heart), published last December 8, the Pontiff recalled the 150^th anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron of the universal Church and, beginning that day and until December 8, 2021, he declared a year especially dedicated to Saint Joseph.

Moreover, in a Decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary a Plenary indulgence is granted until December 8, 2021, fulfilling the usual conditions: Sacramental Confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the Pope’s intentions.

The Holy Father’s Biography

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1936, the son of Italian immigrants. The young Jorge discovered his vocation on September 21, 1953, day in which the Memorial of Saint Matthew is celebrated, the tax collector who converted when Jesus invited him to follow Him.

During a confession he had a profound experience of God’s mercy, which led him to decide to be a priest. He entered the Seminary in 1958 and opted to do his noviciate in the Society of Jesus.

Ordinations and Creation as Cardinal

Bergoglio received his priestly Ordination on December 13, 1969 with the imposition of the hands of the Archbishop of Cordoba, Monsignor Ramon Jose Castellano.

In 1973 he was appointed Provincial of the Jesuits in Argentina. He received Episcopal Ordination in 1992 and was appointed Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Primate of Argentina, in 1998. Saint John Paul II created him Cardinal in the Consistory of February 21, 2001.

Election to the Papacy

On March 13, 2013, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the first Pope from the American continent.

He is also the first Jesuit and pioneer in choosing the name Francis, in honour of the Saint of Assisi. This Saint had the poor, the last, the sick, creatures of the Earth, Sister Moon and Brother Sun as his friends, and peace of heart among men and nations, “friends” that would inspire the words and gestures of Bergoglio’s Pontificate, points out “Vatican News.”

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They are norms that stem from the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium on Universities and Ecclesiastical Faculties, promulgated by Pope Francis on December 8, 2017. This document establishes “the fundamental criteria for the renewal and re-launching of the contribution of ecclesiastical studies to the Church missionary endeavor,” indicates the Instruction.

One of the criteria “refers to the urgent need to ‘create networks’ between the different institutions that cultivate and promote ecclesiastical studies anywhere in the world, and activate with the decision the opportune synergies” (VG, Proemio, 4, d). “It is a perspective that traces a demanding task for the disciplines contemplated in ecclesiastical studies and for the Institutions themselves,” reads the said text.

The Congregation for Catholic Education, in order “to stimulate with pondered and prophetic determination at all levels, a re-launching of ecclesiastical studies in the context of the new stage of the mission of the Church” (VG, Proemio, 1), promulgates this Instruction on the affiliation of the Institutes of Higher Studies to Ecclesiastical Faculties, in order to provide for both the progress of these Institutes as well as for their appropriate distribution in the different parts of the world,” explains the document published today.

The Instructions will be implemented on the first day of the 2021-2022 academic year, or the academic year 2022, according to the academic calendar of the different regions.

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It was an event convoked by the Argentine Bishops from December 8, 2019 to December 8 of this year, to highlight the Jubilee of the 400 years of the finding of the holy image of the Virgin of the Valley in the province of Catamarca.

Mary, Mother, and Disciple

“The National Marian Year closes today A year in which, with the restrictions proper to this time of pandemic, we have held many activities in remembrance and in honour of the Virgin, our Mother,” said the Holy Father.”

In his message, the Pontiff united himself “to all the faithful that celebrate today the end of the National Marian Year,” he “prays for them” and asks that they pray for him.

“Don’t forget that Mary is Mother and disciple. She is Jesus’ Mother. She is the one who brought Jesus to the world. And She is disciple; She is the first to follow Jesus, to do what Jesus says, to obey,” he continued.

“May the figure of Mary, Mother, and disciple, accompany us in our daily life,” he added.

National Marian Year

 Remembered during the course of this year was the first Mass celebrated in the Argentine territory 500 years ago, in the bay of San Julian port, on April 1.

The 4^th National Marian Congress was held in the province of Catamarca from April 23-26 and, in September, the Mariological Congress also took place in Catamarca.

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The Chirograph indicates that the Pope’s Global Prayer Network, previously known as the Apostleship of Prayer, began in France at the initiative of Father Francois-Xavier Gautrelet. “It is based on the spirituality of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and gathers the monthly prayer intentions proposed by the Holy Father to the Church.”

“A few years ago I instituted the Pope’s Global Prayer Network as a Pontifical Work to underscore the universal character of the said apostolate and the need we all have to pray increasingly and with sincerity of heart,” recalls the Holy Father in the text.

So today the Pontiff is equipping it with a structure that is appropriate to the times we are living, and he constitutes it as a “legal, canonical and Vatican person.”

Here is Pope Francis’ full Chirograph.

* * *

The Pope’s Global Prayer Network, previously the Apostleship of Prayer, initiated in France by the Reverend Father Francois-Xavier Gautrelet, S.J., is based on the spirituality of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and gathers the monthly prayer intentions proposed by the Holy Father to the Church.

A few years ago I instituted the Pope’s Global Prayer Network as a Pontifical Work to underscore the universal character of the said apostolate and the need we all have to pray increasingly and with sincerity of heart.

In order to coordinate and encourage this spiritual movement, so dear to me, equipping it with an appropriate structure to the times we are living, in virtue of the apostolic power in the Church and of the sovereignty in Vatican City State, taking into account canons 331, 114and 115, paragraph 3, 116 paragraph 1 and 1303 paragraph 1 n. 1of the Code of Canon Law and article 1, n. 1 of the Fundamental Law of Vatican City since November 26, 2000, <and> accepting the petition presented by the Pope’s Global Prayer Network,

I ESTABLISH

In legal, canonical and Vatican person the ”Pope’s Global Prayer Network” Foundation, with headquarters in Vatican City State, governed by the Statutes annexed to this Chirograph, approved today by me, which will come into force  on December 17, 2020.

Vatican City, November 17, 2020

Francis

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Pope Francis is holding the 7^th Consistory of Cardinals of his pontificate and the Church will have 13 new members in the College of Cardinals. Nine of them are younger than eighty; hence, they are Electors with the right to take part in a future Conclave. Added to them are four who are older than eighty and are Non-Electors.

Wide Experience

Monsignor Arizmendi has had a wide experience in the Church in Mexico, primarily in the care of the indigenous communities, and as a member of the Department of Culture and Education of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM).

He was ordained a priest on August 25, 1963, in the then Diocese of Toluca, today an Archdiocese. He served as a priest in it until 1991, when Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of Tapachula, Chiapas, a city bordering Guatemala, and one of the main points of passage for Central Americans to Mexico.

Nine years later, Saint John Paul II appointed him Bishop of San Cristobal de Las Casas, diocese in the region of Los Altos de Chiapas. This circumscription is known for its indigenous peoples and is located in one of Mexico’s poorest states.

In 2015, on his 75^th birthday, the canonical age in which a resignation can be tendered to the Pontiff, he did so to Pope Francis. It was accepted two years later and, since then, he has been Bishop Emeritus of San Cristobal de Las Casas.

After receiving the news that he would become Mexico’s seventh Cardinal, a few days later, he talked in an exclusive interview with Zenit. Every week he shares with Zenit his interesting reflections on current topics.

Arrival of the News

 During the Angelus last October 25, Pope Francis announced the date of the Consistory and the names of the Cardinals elected. Monsignor Arizmendi said he never expected such news. “As every weekend, I was in Chiltepec, my birthplace, a small mainly farming village. I began the day with the Liturgy of the Hours, totally ignorant of the announcement the Pope had just made.”

“In my prayer in the Office of Reading, I usually meditate on the message of the previous Angelus.” “I opened my computer and began to see many congratulatory messages. I went to the Vatican’s page and saw the news, with astonishment and anguish. Between tears and prayers, my family and my countrymen found out. I celebrated the Eucharist with them at noon, as I do every Sunday,” he continued.

A Consistory in the Midst of the Pandemic

On the reactions of his relatives and friends, he said “the great majority reacted with much joy, feeling proud and happy for this appointment. “Many were thinking of accompanying me to Rome, but they understand that the pandemic has put many limitations. They are accompanying me with more prayers, which I need and for which I’m grateful.”

After the initial surprise, the Bishop Emeritus confessed that in the days prior to the Consistory he lived “with tensions, given the sanitary restrictions in Italy. Like everyone I’m exposed to being infected with the coronavirus, and this would hinder me from taking part in person. Moreover, I am tense over the preparations for the new clothing, which I’m not used to.”

Finally, following strictly all the measures established for the prevention of COVID-19, Monsignor Arizmendi is now in the Vatican and, God willing, tomorrow he will be present in the ceremony for the creation of Cardinals.

Pastoral Service to the Indians

 The future Mexican Cardinal said that this title granted by the holy Father, more than a personal recognition is a tribute to the indigenous peoples of Mexico and to the Bishops, priests, and religious that serve those communities.

Asked about his experience as Bishop of Tapachula and of San Cristobal de Las Casas, and especially about the meaning of the commission that Pope John Paul II gave him, he replied: “I am fruit of my family, of my native village, of the Archdiocese of Toluca that formed me. They are my roots, which I never wanted to cut. My village now belongs to the diocese of Tenancingo, which I value a lot.”

“On March 7, 1991, I was consecrated Bishop of Tapachula and I was there for nine years. From May 1, 2000, to January 3, 2018, I served in San Cristobal de Las Casas. I’ll never cease acknowledging that I am a son of these Churches, which have formed me and have made me what I am. I owe everything to them, as mediations of God’s merciful love,” he added.

The diocese of Tapacula “implied for me the embodiment of a pluricultural reality, as there are Chinese, Japanese, Germans, and many Guatemalans there. When I arrived there were some 50,000 Guatemalan refugees, who had left their country because of the war that so harmed those brother people. Moreover, it’s the passage of thousands of migrants, and I had to continue with the work of my predecessor, Luis Miguel Canton Marin, to assist them humanly.”

“The diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas, erected in 1539, with its first Bishop Bartolome de Las Casas, and presided over for 40 years by my distinguished predecessor, Monsignor Samuel Ruiz Garcia, meant for me a painful and compromising challenge, as there were many that profoundly appreciated I’  Tarik  Samuel, and others that rejected him. I found myself in a very divided diocese, especially on the indigenous question,” he explained.

Nevertheless, “thanks to the Holy Spirit and everyone’s good heart, we were able to make progress in the inculturation of the Church and of the Gospel, and in the process of ecclesial reconciliation, which my successor, Monsignor Rodrigo Aguilar Martinez continues with great pastoral love.”

The Pope’s Visit in 2016

 Pope Francis went to San Cristobal de Las Casas on February 15, 2016, and he was able to observe the life of the Church in that place. Monsignor Arizmendi believes that this visit was “an eloquent sign for all the Indians; they felt they were taken into account and that they are of worth in the Church and in the society.”

The Bishop suggested to the Pope that he have lunch with 13 Indians ”and he accepted gladly. It was a sublime moment of fraternal and very close communion. In many conversations with the papal masters of ceremonies, we were able to have many signs of Catholic inculturation in the Mass.”

The Present Situation in the Diocese

 In regard to the present situation in the territory, the future Cardinal said that it “continues to be one of poverty and marginalization. I was able to see the progress made in education, health, ways of communication, electrification, etc., but those communities continue to live the lack of opportunities for a more fitting life.”

The main challenges continue to be “on one hand, better attention to those fundamental factors of integral development and, on the other, the humanitarian service to the many migrants that continue to pass by there; also the process of inculturation for biblical and liturgical translations, and to bring Indian hearts closer, which are divided among themselves over agrarian, social, political and religious questions, and between Indians and Mestizos. This is an endless process,” he remarked.

Facet as Columnist 

In addition to his pastoral work as priest and Bishop, Monsignor Arizmendi has spent over 40 years writing for different means, civil and religious, among them, Zenit; his weekly comments on the ecclesial reality are followed by many people.

In regard to his facet as a writer, the Pastor said that it arose in 1979, after Pope Saint John Paul II’s first trip to Mexico. “When he returned to Rome, I felt it was necessary to help our people to recall and digest his messages, which were very profound. To do so, I requested a local newspaper to allow me to write a weekly column,” he explained.

I have done it, since then, “not because I have many capabilities, but because of the urgency to evangelize the different national and global events with the light of the Word of God and the ecclesial Magisterium.”

“I’m convinced that this is a task the Lord commends to us, and we cannot remain at oeace just commenting and lamenting what happens, but we must offer the world the light we have received. I don’t write because I have plenty of time, because I have nothing to do, to seek publicity, or for economic interest (no one pays me anything), but to light a match in the midst of the darkness,” he specified.

Assist the Bishop of Rome

 After enumerating the Cardinals’ names in the Angelus of October 25, Pope Francis requested prayer for each of them so that “confirming their adherence to Christ, they help me in my ministry as Bishop of Rome, for the good of all the holy faithful People of God.”

Questioned on the meaning of these words of the Holy Father, Arizmendi said: “They imply for me to continue giving this evangelizing service, not only in the articles I write weekly but in whatever is necessary.”

“Frequently, the Bishops ask me to accompany the Spiritual Exercises of their priests; to help in the sanctification of the clergy is a task of the first order. If the Pope entrusts a specific task to us, we must be ready to collaborate in his Petrine mission. At 80 I don’t think I’ll be entrusted with something more, but only continue carrying out the evangelizing service, which is not only Peter’s task, but that of all Jesus’ disciples,” he stressed.

Continue with Service

Asked about how his life will be after being created Cardinal, Zenit’s collaborator said: “I hope nothing changes, and that all continues the same. Many people continue calling me ‘Father Felipe,’ ‘brother Bishop,” and I hope they won’t address me with a Cardinal’s titles!”

“My present service is to listen to people who want to talk about their lives, to hear their confessions, to give talks, now through Zoom, to accompany indigenous processes in the country and in Latin America, as I’ve been able to do from CELAM,” he said.

“I pray to the Spirit, not vaingloriously with this title, as titles aren’t the most important in life, but the fraternal service of love. What is decisive, what makes us worth more, is to love God and our neighbor,” he notes.

Moment of Gratitude

 This recognition of Monsignor Felipe Arizmendi is a moment to thank God and the Prelate expressed his gratitude “of course to God, to the Virgin, to Pope Francis and to his immediate predecessors, to my family, to my birthplace, to the dioceses that formed me. And I implore their prayers so that I’ll be faithful to the Lord and to His People.”

From Zenit, we thank the Lord for your presence and closeness to us and we will accompany you tomorrow with our prayers.

Translation by Virginia M. Forrester

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The Holy Father mentioned the Mass in a letter that the Argentine Minister of Defense requested from the Pope, and which the Minister read in a ceremony commemorating the tragedy, reported the Argentine newspaper “La Capital Mar del Plata.”

 Next Sunday, September 15, will be the third year of the sinking of the ARA San Juan. I don’t want this date to go by without expressing to the relatives of the 44 sub-mariners and the Argentine people, who suffered so much because of this event, the assurance of my closeness and prayer.”

“This day I will celebrate Mass for the eternal repose of the disappeared sailors. I pray for you; please, do not fail to do so for me. May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin take care of you,” concluded the Pontiff in his missive.

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In the last few months, the health emergency has revolutionized our way of life in the personal, family, and work as well as educational ambits. The dynamic of our routines and relations have been essentially transformed (distancing, hand washing, use of masks . . . ) and they have been mediated through devices and platforms.

To speak about the impact of these changes in the educational field and to learn how these institutions have addressed it, Zenit talked with Father Javier Maria Prades Lopez, Rector of the Saint Damasus Ecclesiastical University (UESD) in Madrid, Spain.

The Rector is a priest of the Madrid diocese, ordained on March 14, 1987. With a Licentiate in Law from the Autonomous University of Madrid (1982) and a Doctorate in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome (1991), he is a Professor of Systematic Theology at Saint Damasus University.

Saint Damasus Ecclesiastical University

 It is a University of social initiative created by the Archdiocese of Madrid. Erected by the Holy See, it enjoys canonical juridical personality and is governed by the Church’s legislation.

Located in Madrid de los Austrias, the UESD is at the service of a new concept of intellectual work and scientific research. It is the only Ecclesiastical University in the Spanish-speaking realm dedicated to the Sciences promoted by the Church (Theology, Canon Law, Philosophy, Christian and Classic Literature, and Religious Sciences).

Here is the unabridged interview with Father Prades.

* * *

–Q: How did Saint Damasus University address the advent of the pandemic? How did it and its students adapt to the lockdown?

–Father Prades: The pandemic irrupted on Madrid and in Spain with a speed and profundity that no one had foreseen. Its consequences went beyond what was thought could happen at every moment, until a state of alarm arrived and a months-long confinement.

We cannot forget the profound suffering of the Spanish society in those months, with tens of thousands of dead and generalized disconcert. Now we also continue to suffer the very grave consequences for health, work <and> human and social relations. We are really being put to the test.

The measures the UESD adopted offered a response to the emergency as fast as possible using the technological resources and staff of the University. I qualify it as admirable because an unimagined situation was addressed.

In the adaptation of online teaching, the effort of the University community as a whole resulted in being able to end the academic year satisfactorily.

–Q: The preparation for this new academic year had to take into account the challenges posed by the new COVID-19 health emergency. What was the preparation for the beginning of the academic year in the previous months? What were the main novelties that had to be incorporated?

–Father Prades: Taken into account in planning the new academic year was the experience acquired in the previous months regarding the adaptation of students, professors, administrative and services personnel (PAS) to the situation. It was also decided that, if the pandemic lasted longer, the University’s computer infrastructure had to be improved.

In addition, work was done on a system of organization and shift rotations that would make possible the use of the computer infrastructure.

–Q: The new academic year was opened last September 6. Tell us about the experience of a ceremony of this type via streaming.

Father Prades: The ceremony on the 6^th was held in a twofold way: with presence and via streaming. With the presence of some Ecclesiastical and Academic Authorities and of members of the University’s Senate, while the rest of the University community followed the ceremony through a videoconference.

It’s a strange impression, very different from the usual, which we hope can be surmounted as soon as possible to be able to hold the ceremonies with the physical presence of all. On the other hand, the measures adopted have ensured compliance with the norms for the protection of health that the Authorities had been promulgating.

It is an ambivalent experience because we have not been able to hold the solemn ceremony of the opening of the academic year with its significant meaning as we would have liked; however, we also have the satisfaction of having been able to hold it respecting the prevention requirements.

–Q: How have classes been held in these first weeks? Have new challenges arisen?

–Father Prades: The classes began with a mixed model of physical presence and online presence. To tell the truth, we had great expectations to see if we would succeed in responding to the enormous challenges posed to us.

Thank God, the professors, the students, the administration and services personnel are adapting as a whole in an admirable way to the conditions in which we are working.

We all have to make an effort to respond to these challenges. For instance, every professor has to respond to the presence of students divided between the classroom and online attendance, which calls for teaching adaptations and not accommodate to a singe model.

The students also have to adapt to a rotation system, which modifies their usual working habits. And the administrative and services personnel is making an extraordinary effort to maintain in these <difficult> conditions the academic activity that depends on them.

–Q: How do you try to guarantee the connection with the student body to facilitate the teaching and learning process? How are the students responding?

–Father Prades: We are trying to take advantage of the best of every circumstance. When we are in the classroom, valuing the direct contact with students, which is the one we consider a priority and typical of Saint Damasus and, at the same time, making a much more continuous use of online resources and other telematic instruments to facilitate University work.

There is a good disposition in our University life. We have personalized academic situations, paying attention to each one’s circumstances to find the most appropriate formula.

The students as a whole are responding with generosity and good humour because they realize that the challenge continues to be enormous.

–Q: What unknown benefits have you discovered given the greater use of technologies? How do you try to achieve proximity with the students of Saint Damasus University in these special circumstances?

–Father Prades: We have appreciated better the value of online technology for teaching. Our University was not prepared to turn its teaching into online technology, neither from the point of view of resources and computer instruments nor from the point of view of preparation and teaching.

However, we have only taken a few steps. We see the limitations that pedagogy and online teaching have, but we also see its advantages so that, in the near future, paying attention to the indications of the Congregation for Catholic Education, they can be integrated and incorporated much more decidedly, than up to now, in Ecclesiastical University teaching.

–Q: What biosecurity measures have been taken in the University’s installations to prevent contagions?

–Father Prades: In the University’s present premises in Madrid, the recommendations of the Ministry of Education have been followed, as well as the indications of the Health Authorities and consultation organisms, in keeping with the established official protocols.

Measures of a preventive character have been implemented and work is being done in preparation for eventual situations that might occur during the academic year.

However, no one can control completely what will happen in the future. We commend our work to the protection of Saint Joseph and Mary, Seat of Wisdom.

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This gift of the Holy Father is destined to the exhibition area, inaugurated in the complex of the Shrine of the Crucifix of Salvation last September 14, which is dedicated entirely to the Cross. The Bishop of the diocese of Caltagirone, Monsignor Calogero Peri will deliver this donation.

Today, after presiding over the Mass of the first Friday of the month at 5:00 pm. the Prelate will hand it to the Rector of the Shrine, Father Enzo Mangano, creator and promoter of the Museum, reported the Vatican media.

Spirituality of the Crucifix

 This pectoral cross of the Pontiff is offered after Father Mangano’s appeal last Lent to make the spirituality of the cross better known, given the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences.

The priest set up exhibition rooms and asked friends and artists to donate works of art, objects, or mementos of the Passion. So Pope Francis also joined the initiative and in a letter of the Substitute of the Secretary of State, Monsignor Edgar Pena Parra, “encouraged the faithful and pilgrims of the ancient Shrine  of the Passion to unite themselves ever more intensely to Christ: Way, Truth, and Life.”

International Museum of the Crucifix of Caltagirone

 According to the same source, the International Museum of the Crucifix of Caltagirone, adjacent to the Shrine of the same name, is dedicated to Monsignor Peri, one of the first to donate a crucifix. His was a small reproduction of Saint Damian’s crucifix, which was in the hospital room where he was admitted after contracting the coronavirus.

That crucifix, was a point of reference for the Bishop during his convalescence, said Monsignor Peri, it elicited questions and prayers. When he was released from the hospital, the Prelate asked if he could take the crucifix with him and he then decided to donate it to the Museum, as a sign of gratitude to God for his having been cured. More than 150 works are already being displayed in this special exhibition area.

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According to the Episcopal Conference of Colombia (ECC), Monsignor Castano Arbelaez tendered his renunciation last April, after his 75^th birthday, the canonical age at which such a request can be made to the Holy Father.

The Episcopate also informed that the Pope appointed Monsignor Jose Roberto Ospina Leon-Gomez, Bishop of Buga, as Apostolic Administrator of Cartago.

Monsignor Jose Alejandro Castano Arbelaez

  Monsignor Castano was born in La Ceja, Antioquia, today jurisdiction of the particular Church of Sonson Rionegro, on April 1, 1945.

His primary schooling was in Medellin. He began his Bachelor’s studies in the Lyceum of the University of Antioquia and, having joined the Order of Augustinians Recollects, he continued his studies in the La Linda Apostolic College of Manizales, studies that he concluded in the Convent of the Desert of Calendaria.

He studied Philosophy in the Convent of Seba, Bogota, and Theology in the Pontifical Xaverian University. He received a Licentiate in Theology from the latter in 1971.

After his Ordination in 1976, he finished his specialization studies in Theology of Religious Life and in Biblical Theology in Madrid.

He took the habit in the Order of Augustinians Recollects on December 29, 1962, in the Convent of the Desert of Candelaria. He made his solemn profession on January 28, 1967, in the Convent of Suba and received the Order of the Presbyterate on December 8, 1971, from the hands of the then Bishop of Zipaquira, Monsignor Ruben Buitrago Trujillo.

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