Bogotá, Colombia, Sep 7, 2017 / 01:29 pm (CNA).- During his flight to Colombia Pope Francis received a white rose from a Colombian journalist, recalling his deep devotion to Saint Therese of Lisieux.
On various occasions, Pope Francis has spoken of his custom of asking favors from the saint, and her responses in his view are little “miracles.”
During the papal trip to Colombia Sept. 6, it was the journalist from Caracol Radio, Cesar Moreno, who gave the white rose to the Holy Father.
“When I gave it to him he said ‘Ah, we begin with dear Saint Therese! We’re getting off to a great start.’ So he liked it a lot and looked very happy. I felt very happy and joyful that I had pleased him,” the journalist told CNA.
Moreno said he had consulted “a couple of Argentine friends who knew Francis” about the devotion to Saint Therese of Lisieux, and they told him of “the significance the white rose has for him in moments of difficulty.”
“When they (difficulties) come up, it is said that the Pope thinks and feels that he can face them,” he added.
Moreno told how his mother is also devoted to Saint Therese of Lisieux and so she helped him prepare the gift: “the white rose, the figurine of Saint Therese of Jesus with her holy card.”
In 2015, when Pope Francis traveled to the Philippines, he revealed that before every trip or a concern of his, he usually asks for “a rose” from Saint Therese of Lisieux, for whom he has a special devotion.
“When I don’t know how things are going to go, I have the custom of asking Saint Therese of the Child Jesus to take the problem into her hands and that she send me a rose,” the Pope told journalists at the time.
Pope Francis’ Sept. 6-11 trip to Colombia follows apostolic visits by two of his predecessors, Bl. Paul VI and St. John Paul II. During his trip, he plans to meet with bishops from the neighboring country of Venezuela, which is facing widespread chaos over government corruption.
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The President of the Communications Commission of the 2024 International Eucharistic Congress, Father Livingston Olivares (left), accompanies EWTN Vice President for Programming and Production Peter Gagnon (center-right), EWTN Vice President for Spanish-language Production, Marketing, and Radio Enrique Duprat (center-left), EWTN Production Director Michael Holmes (far right), and IEC Quito 2024 Communications Coordinator Marcelo Mejía (front, kneeling) at the Monument to the Equator, the exact location of the Equator (from which the country of Ecuador takes its name) on the outskirts of the country’s capital city of Quito, site of the 2024 International Eucharistic Congress. / Credit: Communications Commission of the 2024 International Eucharistic Congress
ACI Prensa Staff, May 21, 2024 / 06:40 am (CNA).
The 53rd International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) has chosen EWTN as the official channel for providing live coverage of the event, which will take place from Sept. 8–15 in Quito, Ecuador.
“The 53rd International Eucharistic Congress, which will be held in Quito Sept. 8–15, has chosen EWTN as its official channel, which will broadcast everything related” to this great event, said Father Juan Carlos Garzón, secretary-general of the IEC Quito 2024, in a statement sent from Rome to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.
The theme for this year’s International Eucharistic Congress is “Fraternity to Heal the World.” On Monday, the Vatican also announced that Pope Francis designated Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect for the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, as pontifical legate to the congress.
Garzón was in Rome last week as part of a delegation, chaired by Alfredo Espinoza Mateus, archbishop of Quito and primate of Ecuador, “to hold a series of meetings with the main papal authorities.”
Since the beginning of the preparations for IEC 2024, Garzón added: “EWTN has been present at the orientation and training for IEC 2024 communications personnel.”
Logo for the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress that will take place in Quito, Ecuador, from Sept. 8-15, 2024. Credit: Communications Commission of the 2024 International Eucharistic Congress
EWTN preparations for IEC Quito 2024
In tandem, to coordinate EWTN’s transmissions of IEC Quito 2024, a team from the network visited the Ecuadorian capital, including the Quito Metropolitan Convention Center, where the congress will be held.
The team was comprised of EWTN Vice President for Programming and Production Peter Gagnon, EWTN Director of Production Michael Holmes, and EWTN Vice President for Spanish-language Production, Marketing, and Radio Enrique Duprat.
Gagnon said EWTN transmissions of the event will be offered in Spanish, English, and German. “This will be a wonderful event for those attending and for those watching,” Gagnon said.
“For EWTN, it is an immense joy to be the channel for the Quito 2024 International Eucharistic Congress,” Duprat said. “It is essential for us to be the platform on which, no matter where our audience is, everyone can enjoy the most important Catholic events in the Church.”
As for coverage details, Duprat said: “The plan is to be able to offer this International Eucharistic Congress live and direct from Quito and in multiple languages [Spanish, English, and German] both through our television and radio signals, the internet, and through our digital app.”
The event coincides with the 150th anniversary of the 1874 consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1886, Quito was also the site of the first National Eucharistic Congress.
During their preparatory visit, the EWTN team traveled the route of a procession that will take place on Sept. 14 in the historic center of Quito, which will begin with a Mass in San Francisco Plaza and then head to the Basilica of the National Vow, where benediction will be given.
They also visited the IEC offices, where they were received by Garzón, who explained how the organization of the event is progressing, including the schedule of a theological symposium to be held Sept. 4–7, just prior to the Sept. 8–15 congress.
The EWTN delegation also visited the Middle of the World Park and Monument to the Equator, marking the equator dividing the northern and southern hemispheres and where a Liturgy of the Word is planned with emphasis on care for creation.
Registration underway
Registration for the International Eucharistic Congress, both for the theological symposium and for the congress itself, is underway and available through the event website.
The largest Catholic media organization in the world, EWTN’s 11 global TV channels and numerous regional channels are broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week to over 425 million television households in more than 160 countries and territories. EWTN platforms also include radio services transmitted through SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio, and more than 600 domestic and international AM and FM radio affiliates and a worldwide shortwave radio service.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., EWTN News operates multiple global news services, including Catholic News Agency; The National Catholic Register newspaper and digital platform; ACI Prensa in Spanish; ACI Digital in Portuguese; ACI Stampa in Italian; ACI Africa in English, French, and Portuguese; ACI Mena in Arabic; CNA Deutsch in German; and ChurchPop, a digital platform that creates content in several languages. It also produces numerous television news programs including “EWTN News Nightly,” “EWTN News In Depth,” “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly,” and “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Mexico City, Mexico, May 21, 2020 / 04:55 pm (CNA).- When Fr. Antonio Pérez Hernández was recently hospitalized with COVID-19, he said he was able to witness firsthand how God is present in the midst of suffering.
The priest shared his experience in a recent video posted by the archdiocese of Tlanepantla, Mexico, where he serves.
After Pérez fell sick with the virus, he was admitted to a public hospital where he shared a room with other patients, some of whom died.
“When I was in that place, there came a time when I did feel like God could call me into his presence,” he said.
“And that’s when you discover abandonment, the total abandonment of saying to the Lord: ‘Here I am, if you want to call me, I am willing; if you want to leave me, I am also willing. I only ask that you please give me the strength to give absolution and attend to my brothers who are suffering from the disease just like I am’.”
The priest said that despite the illness, his experience at the hospital was beautiful and freeing, because he “felt the loving presence of God.”
While at the hospital, Pérez said he always introduced himself as a priest and gave absolution to the sick who requested it. He said he found Christ in the sick patients and was reminded that “we all need Jesus.”
He witnessed four patients die, but said that after giving them absolution, he could see that “they were comforted, they were at peace.”
Through constant prayer, the priest said he watched the hospital rooms be transformed into places of peace where the presence of God could be felt and encountered.
When Pérez was discharged, he said some people told him, “Father we’re going to miss you, you gave us hope, you made us feel Christ in the midst of all this.”
“I said to them: ‘Christ is going to stay with you. I am leaving, but Christ remains. God is not leaving you alone’,” he continued.
Pérez believes God is using the pandemic to heal hearts. “God is making us see what is truly important,” he said.
“Those of us who were there had no contact with family. Those who died, died without having any contact with the family,” Pérez recounted, and stressed the importance of “valuing the presence of the family, valuing friends, valuing life.”
“There comes a time when you only have your hospital gown, you have nothing,” he said, but at that moment “you experience that abandonment of saying to the Lord: ‘Lord, I have you. What more do I want if I have you?’”
This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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