Vatican City, Dec 4, 2017 / 05:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Monday the Vatican announced Pope Francis' appointment of Oratorian Fr. Mario Alberto Aviles as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Brownsville.
He joins Bishop Daniel E. Flores, who has served as the sixth bishop of Brownsville since February 2010.
Aviles, who has served as Procurator General of the Confederation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri since 2012, has also been appointed the titular bishop of the See of Cataquas in modern-day Algeria.
The Oratory of St. Philip Neri is a pontifical society of apostolic life made up of Catholic priests and lay-brothers. There are 86 congregations around the world, including several in the United States.
The Procurator General acts as the representative of the congregations to the Holy See, usually residing in Rome.
Aviles, 48, was born in Mexico City on Sept. 16, 1969. In 1986 he entered the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Mexico City, two years later moving to the Pharr Oratory in the Diocese of Brownsville.
He first attended the Catholic Panamerican University in Mexico City, then transferred to Rome to study philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum University.
He received a master's of divinity at the Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Conn. in 2000. He also has a master's degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Phoenix.
On July 21, 1998 he was ordained a priest for the Confederation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri.
From his ordination he was Parochial Vicar of the parish of St. Jude Thaddeus in Pharr, Texas until 2002, he then served as parish priest of Sacred Heart parish in Hidalgo.
He was Dean of the Oratory Academy and Oratory Athenaeum in Pharr from 2005-2012 and a member of the Diocesan Pastoral Council at Brownsville since 2011.
He has been Procurator General of the Confederation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri since 2012 and speaks Spanish, English and Italian.
The Diocese of Brownsville, formed in 1965, encompasses the counties of Willacy, Cameron, Hidalgo and Starr at the southern border of Texas. Cameron, Hidalgo and Starr also border the Rio Grande River, which divides the Diocese of Brownsville from the dioceses of Matamoros and Nuevo Laredo in Mexico.
The diocese is 4,226 square miles in area with a population of approximately 978,369 inhabitants, of which 831,613 are Catholic.
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Vatican City, Sep 3, 2017 / 04:16 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to the South American country of Colombia Sept. 6-11 isn’t a political statement a Vatican official said, but about the renewal of the Catholic faith of Colombians in order that violence may be combatted at its root.
“But I say immediately, to see the Pope’s visit as centering on the process of the peace accords is a mistake,” said Guzmán Carriquiry, vice president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
He told journalists Friday that the Church in Colombia “has to face an enormous challenge to be a point of fundamental reference for not only the revolution of Christianity in the Colombian people, but for the rebirth of Colombia, for the spiritual regeneration, and the reconciliation of this country.”
“The Pope certainly goes in order to recall this Christianity of Colombia… that he can start a movement for tackling, from the bottom, these problems at the very source,” he said.
“Certainly that is the crucial point.”
A professor and vice president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America since May 2014, Carriquiry spoke to journalists after a briefing on the Pope’s schedule for Colombia Sept. 1.
The Pope’s trip, which will include the cities of Bogotá, Villavicencio, Medellín, and Cartagena, marks the third time Francis has visited his native South America since becoming Pope.
His schedule includes Mass in each of the four cities, as well as leading the Angelus on Sunday as usual outside of the church of Saint Peter Claver, where the saint’s remains are buried.
On Sept. 8, in Villavicencio, a large prayer meeting for National Reconciliation will take place, at the end of which there will be a presentation from people who have been victims of violence during the country’s prolonged civil war.
Pope Francis’ visit comes about one year after a peace accord between the Colombian government and the country’s largest rebel group, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was finally reached in August 2016.
Following its rejection in an Oct. 2 referendum, a revised agreement was signed Nov. 24 and approved by Colombia’s Congress on Nov. 30, this time bypassing a popular vote.
Since 1964, as many as 260,000 people have been killed and millions displaced in the civil war.
Pope Francis praised the accord last year, voicing support “for the goal of attaining the peace and reconciliation of the entire Colombian people, in light of human rights and Christian values, which are at the heart of Latin American culture.”
Despite this, the decision for “this voyage of the Holy Father is realized in a pastoral apostolic visit,” said Archbishop José Octavio Ruiz Arenas, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.
Archbishop Ruiz, who led the Archdiocese of Villavicencio from 2002 to 2007, told CNA Sept. 1 it is hoped that Francis’ visit will “help the Colombian people to seek that reconciliation, that peace, which is deep in the hearts of all Colombians.”
There is a “deep desire in the hearts of all Colombians to have peace. The Pope certainly comes to encourage this deep desire,” he said.
Colombia faces many challenges at the moment, Carriquiry said, particularly because the reconciliation of a country, after more than 60 years of violence, is difficult.
“The Pope considers the peace process a long and arduous process of reconciliation for the country,” he explained, “and all of the Colombian people want this, yes, these negotiations, these accords, peace…”
But ultimately what the country needs is a “grand movement of regeneration and spirituality and reconciliation in Colombian society,” he noted.
Explaining that the peace accord will not solve all of the problems the country faces, such as the culture of drugs and drug trafficking, he said what it really needs is a “major conversion.”
Colombia is “full of contradictions,” because it is still a stronghold of Christianity and the faith is deeply rooted in the people. But at the same time, it has a culture of violence, drug trafficking, corruption, with decades of war causing many people to be displaced or to become refugees.
Carriquiry said he expects Pope Francis to bring the message of the Gospel to the hearts of Colombians. “Why? Because the Gospel is the greatest force of revolution, of national regeneration, of reconciliation for Colombian society. I am convinced of that aspect of the Pope.”
“For actually when we reduce the Pope’s presence to a political character it is completely wrong.”
Pope Francis embraces a man in a wheelchair at the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on June 10, 2015. / L’Osservatore Romano.
Vatican City, Nov 25, 2021 / 10:00 am (CNA).
In his message for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Pope Francis said that the Catholic Church needs the participation of everyone, and the disabled must not be excluded from the sacraments.
“As we celebrate your International Day, I would like to speak directly to all of you who live with any condition of disability, to tell you that the Church loves you and needs each of you for the fulfillment of her mission at the service of the Gospel,” the pope said on Nov. 25.
Quoting his 2013 exhortationEvangelii gaudium, he said: “The worst form of discrimination … is the lack of spiritual care.”
“Sometimes, as certain of you have unfortunately experienced, this has taken the form of denying access to the sacraments,” he said in his message.
“The Church’s magisterium is very clear in this area, and recently the Directory for Catechesis stated explicitly that ‘no one can deny the sacraments to persons with disabilities.’”
The theme of Pope Francis’ message for the day is friendship with Jesus, which he said is “an undeserved gift” that all have received and that can help those experiencing discrimination.
Friendship with Christ “redeems us and enables us to perceive differences as a treasure. For Jesus does not call us servants, women and men of lesser dignity, but friends: confidants worthy of knowing all that he has received from the Father,” he said.
Antonietta Pantone, 31, a Rome resident who uses a wheelchair, told journalists it was clear to her from the pope’s message that he considers it important that people with disabilities be part of the Church and not leave the Church.
She shared her personal journey of faith, which included finding a community in the Christian disability group Fede e Luce.
Pope Francis meets with Foi et Lumière members on Oct. 2, 2021. Vatican Media/CNA
Fede e Luce is the Italian branch of the French association Foi et Lumière (known as Faith and Light in the English-speaking world), which began 50 years ago with a pilgrimage for people with disabilities to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. The movement has now expanded to five continents.
“I always say: In the eyes of God, we are all equal,” Pantone said, noting that in her journey of faith, friendship has been fundamental.
Friendship with others “demonstrates the closeness of God,” she said.
Pantone also explained how losing physical contact with friends because of the COVID-19 pandemic has been very hard for her and other disabled people, especially her friends who live in residences and not with family.
In his message, Pope Francis addressed the difficulty of the coronavirus outbreak for the disabled.
“I think, for example, of your being forced to stay at home for long periods of time; the difficulty experienced by many students with disabilities in accessing aids to distance learning; the lengthy interruption of social care services in a good number of countries; and many other hardships that you have had to face,” he wrote.
He mentioned in particular those who live in residential facilities, separated from loved ones. “In those places, the virus hit hard and, despite the dedication of caretakers, it has taken all too many lives,” he said.
He also emphasized the importance of confronting these challenges by finding consolation in prayer and friendship with Jesus.
“I would like to speak personally to each of you, and I ask that, if necessary, your family members or those closest to you read my words to you, or convey my appeal,” he said. “I ask you to pray. The Lord listens attentively to the prayers of those who trust in him.”
“Prayer is a mission, a mission accessible to everyone, and I would like to entrust that mission in a particular way to you. There is no one so frail that he or she cannot pray, worship the Lord, give glory to his holy Name, and intercede for the salvation of the world. In the sight of the Almighty, we come to realize that we are all equal,” he stressed.
Pope Francis also noted the continued presence of discrimination, ignorance, and prejudice at all levels of society, assuring people with disabilities that through baptism they are “a full-fledged member of the Church community, so that all of us, without exclusion or discrimination, can say: “I am Church!’”
“The Church is truly your home!” he said.
At a Nov. 25 press conference, Fr. Alexandre Awi Mello said that the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life is trying to do more to improve pastoral care for those with disabilities.
“This message, in recognizing that people with disabilities have their place in the holy faithful People of God, is a great invitation, for us in the dicastery, but above all for parish, diocesan and associative realities to take new paths with pastoral creativity,” Awi Mello said.
Fr. Alexandre Awi Mello, secretary of the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, speaks at a Vatican press conference, May 18, 2021. Gianluca Teseo/CNA.
“It is a door that opens to think of pastoral care no longer for, but with…”
On Dec. 6, the dicastery will launch a video campaign with the hashtag #IamChurch. In five videos, Catholics with disabilities from different parts of the world will share about their experiences in the Church.
Pantone, who participated in one of the Vatican’s videos, told CNA that she would like to see the Catholic Church do more to develop courses that allow people with all kinds of disabilities to participate in parish life, such as formation courses to become a catechism teacher.
“I still had some ways to study [to become a catechist],” she said, “but it depends on the type of disability, so if another disabled person wants to be a catechist, the Church should give him all the appropriate tools.”
Pantone said that the Church can do a lot for the disabled, but the recently begun Synodal Journey “is already a step forward which the world of disability sees positively.”
Pope Francis said in his message that “having Jesus as a friend is an immense consolation. It can turn each of us into a grateful and joyful disciple, one capable of showing that our frailties are no obstacle to living and proclaiming the Gospel.”
“In fact, a trusting and personal friendship with Jesus can serve as the spiritual key to accepting the limitations that all of us have, and thus to be at peace with them,” he said.
Felicidades, el Padre Mario buen sacerdote y buen pastor en nuestra parroquia, ahora con la ayuda del Espiritu Santo y la Misericordia de Dios, sabemos que sera un buen Pastor de su rebano en la Diocesis apoyando al Bishop Flores.
Fantastic.
I guess no American priests were available for an American diocese leadership position.
Felicidades, el Padre Mario buen sacerdote y buen pastor en nuestra parroquia, ahora con la ayuda del Espiritu Santo y la Misericordia de Dios, sabemos que sera un buen Pastor de su rebano en la Diocesis apoyando al Bishop Flores.