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Pope Francis met with seminarians, staff, and faculty of the Ponitifical North American College in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace on Jan. 14, 2023. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jan 14, 2023 / 09:45 am (CNA).
Pope Francis told American seminarians in Rome that they are called to take up the “challenge and task” of the synodal journey — of listening to the Holy Spirit and to one another — as they study to become priests.
The pope met with students, staff, and faculty of the Pontifical North American College (NAC) at the Vatican on the morning of Jan. 14.
“Your time here in Rome,” he said, “coincides with the synodal journey that the whole Church is presently undertaking, a journey that involves listening, to the Holy Spirit and to one another, in order to discern how to help God’s holy people live his gift of communion and become missionary disciples.”
“This is also the challenge and task you are called to take up as you walk together along the path that leads to priestly ordination and pastoral service,” the pope said in the Apostolic Palace.
The Pontifical North American College, founded in 1859, hosts seminarians and priests from the United States and Australia as they complete studies in Rome. Faculty and staff include priests, religious sisters, and lay people.
During the private audience, Francis also encouraged the seminarians to foster a daily relationship with Jesus by spending time in silence before the Eucharist.
“Over the course of your lives, and especially throughout this time of seminary formation, the Lord enters into a personal dialogue with you, asking what you are looking for and inviting you to ‘come and see,’ to speak with him from your hearts and give yourselves to him confidently in faith and love,” Pope Francis said.
“Doing so involves fostering a daily relationship with Jesus, one nourished especially by prayer, meditation on the word of God, the help of spiritual accompaniment, and listening to him in silence before the tabernacle,” he underlined. “Always remember this: listening in silence before the tabernacle.”
The pope invited the seminarians to use their years in Rome to see the mystery of the unity of the Church, in which diverse people live the oneness of the faith.
“It is my hope that these experiences will help you develop that fraternal love capable of seeing the grandeur of our neighbor, of finding God in every human being, of tolerating the nuisances of life in common,” he said.
“For it is in these moments of familiar relationship with the Lord,” he continued, “that we can best hear his voice and discover how to serve him and his people generously and wholeheartedly.”
The crucifix depicting the 12th station of South America’s largest Stations of the Cross in Tandil, Buenos Aires Province, in Argentina. / Credit: Banfield, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
CNA Newsroom, Jan 14, 2023 / 08:00 am (CNA).
The largest Stations of the Cross in South America, located in the city of Tandil in the Buenos Aires province in Argentina, turned 80 on Jan. 10.
Bishop Fortunato Devoto — then auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires — along with his cousin, Pedro Redolatti, promoted the initiative, which was finally dedicated in 1943.
The crucifix depicting the 12th station is almost 50 feet tall. The other sculptures representing Christ’s Way of the Cross are about twice life-size.
The faithful and tourists can get to the crucifix by climbing a 195-step stone staircase that goes up the hill on which the crucifix stands.
The Via Crucis is a very popular site for those visiting the mountainous area of Buenos Aires province and is one of the most impressive sites in the city of Tandil.
Contributing to the construction of the project were the municipality of Tandil and the provincial and national governments, as well as private donors.
The original cross was made from a 100-year-old conifer tree, a donation from the director of Provincial Parks, Ezequiel Bustillo. Over time the cross deteriorated, and in 1949 it was replaced by a cement one.
The dedication ceremony was attended by the then president of Argentina, Ramón Castillo, and the mayor of the city of Tandil, William Leeson.
Among the clergy present were the apostolic nuncio, Bishop Giuseppe Fietta; the bishop of Azul, César Caneva; Bishop Miguel D’Andrea, auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires; and Father Julio Chienno, the pastor of Tandil.
It is estimated that the dedication ceremony was attended by about 40,000 people. By then, Bishop Fortunato Devoto had already passed away — he died in 1941.
During Holy Week, thousands of believers from different parts of Argentina and other countries come to the Via Crucis.
In the first few days of 2023, the National Commission of Monuments, Places, and Historical Assets of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house) issued its opinion in favor of having the Mount Calvary of Tandil declared a National Historic Monument.
A bill to that effect was introduced in June 2022 by Rogelio Iparraguirre, a representative in the Chamber of Deputies. If it becomes law, it will enable greater investment for the site’s conservation.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Cardinal George Pell’s coffin in front of some of the cardinals who concelebrated his funeral Mass on Jan. 14, 2023 / Alan Koppschall/CNA
Vatican City, Jan 14, 2023 / 07:50 am (CNA).
Catholics traveled from near and far to attend the funeral Mass of Cardinal George Pell in St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday.
The Australian cardinal died in Rome Jan. 10 from a cardiac arrest following a hip surgery. He was 81.
His Jan. 14 funeral, held at the Altar of the Chair, was filled to capacity, with extra chairs added at the last minute to accommodate people standing as far back as the Vatican basilica’s main altar.
“A man of God and a man of the Church, he was characterized by a deep faith and great steadfastness of doctrine, which he always defended without hesitation and with courage, concerned only with being faithful to Christ,” Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said about Pell in his homily for the funeral.
“As he noted many times, the weakening of faith in the Western world and the moral crisis of the family grieved him,” Re said. “To God, who is good and rich in mercy, we entrust this brother of ours, praying that God will welcome him into the peace and intimacy of his love.”
Pell’s brother, David Pell, and cousin Chris Meney, together with other family members, priests, and religious, traveled from Australia to be at the funeral.
Cardinal George Pell’s funeral Mass beginning now. Pell’s brother, David, is seated near the front.
(📷 Alan Koppschall/CNA) pic.twitter.com/WCOTHv8d8H
— Hannah Brockhaus (@HannahBrockhaus) January 14, 2023
Michael Casey, Pell’s former secretary who now works at the Australian Catholic University, was also in attendance.
From Rome, Holy See diplomats, students, and priests, also came to pray for Pell’s repose. Seminarians of the Pontifical North American College attended the funeral Mass immediately following their audience with Pope Francis the same morning.
American author George Weigel, a longtime friend of Cardinal Pell, traveled from the United States for the funeral.
The Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the deacon of the College of Cardinals, and concelebrated by cardinals and bishops.
Pell’s private secretary during his years in Rome, Father Joseph Hamilton, and archbishop Georg Gänswein, the longtime secretary of Pope Benedict XVI, also concelebrated.
Pope Francis arrived at the end of the Mass to perform the rite of final commendation and farewell, as is his custom for the funeral of a cardinal.
“May God unite his soul with those of all the saints and faithful departed,” the pope prayed. “May he be given a merciful judgement so that, redeemed from death, freed from punishment, reconciled to the Father, carried in the arms of the Good Shepherd, he may deserve to enter fully into everlasting happiness in the company of the eternal King together with all the saints.”
Francis sprinkled holy water. A priest incensed the coffin as the choir and congregation sang the Marian antiphon Sub Tuum Praesidium.
Applause broke out as Pell’s coffin was carried from St. Peter’s Basilica.
The cardinal will be buried in his former cathedral, St. Mary’s, in Sydney, Australia.
The day before his funeral, a visitation was held for Pell in the Church of Santo Stefano degli Abissini inside the Vatican.
The Gospel for Cardinal Pell’s funeral Mass was from Luke 12, about the vigilant and faithful servants: “Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival,” Luke 12:37 says.
The Responsorial Psalm was from Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
In his homily, Re remarked on Pell’s unexpected death, and on his recent attendance at the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI.
“Despite his 81 years, he seemed to be in good health,” he said. “Hospitalized for hip surgery, heart complications ensued, causing his death.”
“Enlightened and comforted by faith in the risen Christ, we are gathered around this altar and the body of Cardinal Pell to entrust his soul to God, that he may be received into the immensity of his love in life without end.”
Re described Pell as a “strong-willed and decisive protagonist, characterized by the temper of a strong character, which at times could appear harsh.”
The cardinal’s premature death, Re said, has left us dismayed, but “there is only room in our hearts for hope.”
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Father Robert Spitzer, SJ, delivers the opening keynote address at the inaugural Wonder Conference on Jan. 13, 2023. / Credit: Word on Fire/Screenshot
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