Ad Maoirem De Gloriam

Pope Francis issued a message of thanks on Sunday during his Regina Coeli address, following the canonization Mass of Saints John XXIII and John Paul II. The Pope thanked all of the pilgrims and the official delegates who traveled to Rome for the occasion. He also thanked the Italian authorities for their generous work and collaboration in preparing for this event. He greeted the pilgrims from the home dioceses of the new saints—Bergamo and Krakow—exhorting them to “honour the memory of these two holy Popes by following their teachings faithfully”. He also issued a special greeting “for the sick and the aged, to whom the new saints were particularly close.” Read the full text of the Pope’s address below : Dear brothers and sisters, Before concluding this celebration of faith, I wish to greet and thank all of you! I thank my brother cardinals and the many bishops and priests from every part of the world. My appreciation goes to the official delegations from many countrie...

Vatican City, 27 April 2014 (VIS) – Half a million people attended the ceremony held this morning in St. Peter's Square for the canonisation of the “two Pope saints”: John XXIII and John Paul II. Since it was opened to the public at 5 a.m., the square and its environs were filled with faithful from all over the world; Polish pilgrims, however, constituted one of the largest groups. The event was also attended by delegations from over a hundred countries, more than twenty Heads of State and many figures from the world of politics and culture, including the King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain, King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium, Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, the ex-president of the Republic of Poland Lech Walesa, the president of the Argentine parliament Julian Dominguez and the presidents of the European Union, Herman Van Rompuy, and the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso. The celebration wa...

Vatican City, 26 April 2014 (VIS) – Blessed Pope John XXIII was born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli at Sotto il Monte, Italy, in the Diocese of Bergamo on 25 November 1881. He was the fourth in a family of 14. The family worked as sharecroppers. It was a patriarchal family in the sense that the families of two brothers lived together, headed by his great-uncle Zaverio, who had never married and whose wisdom guided the work and other business of the family. Zaverio was Angelo's godfather, and to him he always attributed his first and most fundamental religious education. The religious atmosphere of his family and the fervent life of the parish, under the guidance of Fr. Francesco Rebuzzini, provided him with training in the Christian life. He entered the Bergamo seminary in 1892. Here he began the practice of making spiritual notes, which he continued in one form or another until his death, and which have been gathered together in the “Journal of a ...