Stories of 2018: The Pope’s peace-making gifts
L-R: Altar server John-Paul Romano, Deacon Matt Ransom, Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, Fr Warrick Tonkin, Sr Mary, Sr Mary Trinh and Peter Sutherland. Picture: Jeanine Doyle.
The new Catholic Voice website came into existence in July 2018. Many of the great stories of last year have never appeared on the website, so as we look back on 2018, we wanted to share some of those stories with our online readers, including this great story.
THE LOVE and respect for Pope Francis was clearly evident when clergy and lay faithful gathered to celebrate five years of his papacy with a special Mass at St Christopher’s Cathedral.
His Excellency Most Reverend Adolfo Tito Yllana, Papal Nuncio to Australia, was the principal celebrant at the Mass which was held on the Feast of St Joseph. Archbishop Christopher Prowse, Bishop Max Davis, Emeritus Auxiliary Bishop Pat Power and other priests from throughout the Archdiocese were on hand to concelebrate.
In his homily, Archbishop Christopher, Prowse drew parallels between St Joseph and Pope Francis, namely their humility and tenderness before then identifying three key images that point to the gift that the Holy Spirit has given the Church in Pope Francis.
The three images are as follows:
- Pope Jorge Bergoglio for the first time on the Balcony of St Peter’s on March 13 2013.
- Pope Francis embracing a severely disfigured (boils) and suffering man at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican during one of the Wednesday general audiences on November 6, 2013. Pope Francis paused for several minutes to receive and embrace the sick man.
- Pope Francis planting an olive tree in the Vatican gardens on 10 June 2014. He was joined by the former Israeli President Shimon Peres, and the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, together with the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
It demonstrates the extraordinary peace-making gifts the Pope generates – especially in his frequent overseas pilgrimages. This charity plants seeds of peace, hope and joy in desert places [and] it also indicates how he shows incredible leadership of friendship and tenderness in regard to ecumenical and interreligious relations.
To read the Archbishop’s homily in full go to http://cgcatholic.org.au/about/our-archbishop/homilies/homily-mass-celebrating-fifth-anniversary-pontificate-holiness-pope-francis/