reflections, updates and homilies from Deacon Mike Talbot inspired by the following words from my ordination: Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe and practice what you teach...
Showing posts with label cardinal Gambetti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cardinal Gambetti. Show all posts
Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica and vicar general of the pope for Vatican City, presided Oct. 13 over a penitential rite of reparation at the main altar of the church following a serious act of desecration that had taken place on Oct. 10.
After a penitential procession that began at 12:45 p.m. local time, Gambetti sprinkled the altar with holy water and incensed it to purify it.
The rite, attended by members of the chapter of the Vatican basilica, emphasized asking God for “forgiveness” for the desecration, Father Enzo Fortunato, director of communications for St. Peter’s Basilica, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.
On Friday, Oct. 10, a man whose identity has not been revealed was arrested by security guards after he climbed onto the Altar of the Confession, located under Bernini’s baldachin, and urinated on it while tourists looked on in astonishment.
Pope Leo XIV expressed his consternation upon learning of the incident and asked Gambetti to perform an act of reparation to restore the sanctity of the place and ask forgiveness for what had happened.
This is the second instance of desecration in St. Peter’s Basilica in less than a year. In February, a man severely damaged part of the main altar, breaking several candelabras. In June 2023, an individual of Polish origin stripped naked in the same place as a form of protest against the war in Ukraine.
St. Peter’s Basilica will now host an hour of eucharistic adoration on its front portico once a month.
Beginning March 14, adoration will take place every second Tuesday from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the parvise in front of the Vatican basilica leading to St. Peter’s Square.
The Holy Hour, according to a press release, is part of the pastoral initiatives of the basilica.
The March 14 adoration will be led by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, OFM Conv, who is the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica. The prayer will be offered for Pope Francis in light of his 10th anniversary as pope.
St. Peter’s Basilica is typically open every day from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the winter or 7 p.m. in the summer.
The Eucharist is also exposed in St. Peter’s Basilica for adoration in the Chapel of the Most Blessed Sacrament from approximately 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
A monthly eucharistic Holy Hour in front of St. Peter’s Basilica is added to other initiatives started by Cardinal Gambetti after he was appointed archpriest in February 2021.
In October 2022, the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica was illuminated with a 3D projection mapping of art from the Vatican Museums. The eight-minute light show, called “Follow Me: The Life of St. Peter,” played every night for two weeks.
Last year the Vatican also held the Stations of the Cross in the basilica every Friday during Lent. The prayer was accompanied by paintings of the Passion of Christ by the Italian artist Gaetano Previati (1852–1920).
Though early morning Masses by groups “with particular and legitimate needs” may be allowed, in general, private Masses can now only be celebrated in the chapels in the Vatican crypt. Visitors to the basilica may also participate in regularly scheduled Italian-language Masses in the basilica and priests may concelebrate.
The change was criticized by Cardinals Joseph Zen, Robert Sarah, Raymond Burke, Gerhard Müller, and Walter Brandmüller.
Pope Francis also led eucharistic adoration and gave an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi blessing on the portico of St. Peter’s Basilica on March 27, 2020, to pray for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The televised prayer took place before an empty square since Italy’s lockdown prevented attendance.
Cardinal Gambetti on Corpus Christi: “Give of yourselves like Jesus did"
Celebrating the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in the Vatican, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti recalls that faith and a change of attitude are necessary in order to accomplish what Jesus asks of us.
By Linda Bordoni
Presiding at Holy Mass on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Archpriest of the Basilica, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, reflected on the day's Gospel reading in which Jesus told the crowd “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6:55).
The solemnity of Corpus Christi celebrates the presence of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, and it is marked on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. The Mass, which was not presided over by Pope Francis as he follows doctors’ advice to rest his knee, concluded with a procession of the Blessed Sacrament and was followed by the Benediction.
Cardinal Gambetti explained that the fact that Jesus came down from heaven shows how the Father’s love for humanity was manifested in “lowering” His Son who descended from heaven and died on the cross for our salvation.
The “way” of God
It tells us “in no uncertain terms, that “coming down, or ‘lowering’ is the way of God,” he said, adding that if we do not understand and accept this “we risk separating ourselves” from the way to eternal life and from Jesus.
As we have heard in the Gospel, Cardinal Gambetti said, “Jesus takes us by the hand to accompany us, allowing us to discover, to the very end, the way to eternal life and to help us be a part of it.”
The many episodes which tell of how Jesus “fed the crowds” are central in the narratives of all the Evangelists and have remained etched in the memory of the disciples. They set in motion, the Cardinal explained, “a process of conversion that became a path of transformation,” beginning with Easter - that Last Supper – in which we too participate, “every time, like today, we celebrate the Eucharist.”
Resist the temptation of logical reasoning
That path of transformation requires us to change our worldly mindset, he added, and demands that we face the challenges of history and the suffering of our brothers and sisters, while resisting the temptation to justify our indolence or helplessness with logical reasoning or hypothetical “solutions.”
“We have to admit we resist involvement when it touches us in the flesh, in our pockets, in the privileges we enjoy.”
“The main problem, however, is that we have little faith,” he said. “It’s as if the disciples had told Jesus: it is impossible to accomplish what you asked of us, you have overrated us or you don’t know what you are saying.”
“We need to be careful,” the Archpriest continued, “and instead of looking for justifications not to become involved” we need to ask ourselves: “what is the Lord asking me to do in this situation? And then simply, obey.”
That’s what the disciples did, he said “and the unbelievable happened!” What’s more, it was a turning point in the journey of the disciples.
The school of Corpus Christi
“We are called to become Eucharist, like Jesus, who repeats to us: “Do this in remembrance of Me.”
When we celebrate the Eucharist, the memorial of the Lord's death, Cardinal Gambetti said, we do not intend only to remember, we prepare ourselves to become living memory of Jesus.
“This is the school of Corpus Christi,” the Cardinal concluded, inviting the faithful to “lower themselves” and allow Jesus to take them by the hand and lead them in a full and loving life that comes from a change of mindset and of attitude.
“Don't worry about yourselves anymore, but care for your brothers and sisters: give of yourselves to feed them, just as Jesus did.”
Pope Francis establishes Fratelli tutti Foundation
Pope Francis establishes the Fratelli tutti Vatican Foundation within the Fabbrica di San Pietro. The new institution aims at investing “in cultural and spiritual formation through events, experiences, pathways and spiritual exercises,” in order to promote the principles of the Pope’s 2020 encyclical.
By Salvatore Cernuzio
“To support and design pathways of art and faith… to invest in cultural and spiritual formation through events, experiences, pathways and spiritual exercises… to promote dialogue with cultures and other religions on the themes of the Pontiff's latest encyclicals, in order to build a ‘social alliance.’”: These are the aims of the new Fratelli tutti Foundation, established by Pope Francis with a chirograph (a papal decree) signed on 8 December 2021.
Chaired by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti
The new foundation “of religion and worship” — as the Pope underlines — was conceived within the Fabbrica di San Pietro, whose mission it is intended to support, with the collaboration of members of the lay faithful.
The Foundation will include a single head and a general secretary, with a Board of Directors initially chaired by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, Vicar of Vatican City and President of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, from whom the proposal originated. The cardinal had previously announced the impending creation of the Foundation, centred on three key words “to build the future together”: dialogue, encounter, and sharing — that is, the very principles set out in the Pope’s encyclical Fratelli tutti, published on 3 October 2020.
The Pope’s satisfaction
“I have learned with satisfaction that the Fabbrica di San Pietro, together with some of the faithful, wish to join together to establish a Foundation of Religion and Worship intended to collaborate in spreading the principles set forth in my recent encyclical, Fratelli tutti, in order to encourage around St. Peter’s Basilica and in the embrace of its colonnade, initiatives linked to spirituality, art, education, and dialogue with the world,” the Pope writes in his chirograph. The Pope explains that the institution will be governed by canonical laws, “in particular by the special norms that regulate the Bodies of the Holy See, by the civil norms in force in the Vatican City State, and by the attached Statute which I simultaneously approve.”
Art, training, and spirituality initiatives
Within the Statutes approved by Pope Francis, Article 3 sets out the aims of the new institution: “The Foundation aims at solidarity, formation, and dissemination of art, in particular sacred art; it promotes synodality, the culture of fraternity and dialogue.” A statement from the Holy See Press Office explains that, to this end, the Fratelli Tutti Foundation “promotes holistic formation, attentive to the spiritual and cultural levels, to the community dimension and to the commitment to service in the world.”
It will also promote “the experience of pilgrims through spiritual, cultural and artistic itineraries in Saint Peter’s Basilica and in the spaces made available for the Fabric of Saint Peter,” and organize “itineraries, events and experiences to foster fraternity and social friendship between Churches, different religions and between believers and non-believers.”
Culture of peace and fraternal humanism
Among the aims of the “Fratelli tutti” Foundation is the promotion of the “culture of peace in the various spheres of life, from the personal to the social and political dimensions,” as well as the organisation of “‘new encounters’ nourished by social dialogue, by a sense of social forgiveness, by the purification of memory, by the promotion of restorative justice as an alternative to social revenge.” Numerous initiatives are also planned, aimed at encouraging “the development of fraternal humanism, through the promotion of the principles of freedom, equality and fraternity, conditions for building a ‘universal love’ that recognises and safeguards the dignity of persons.” In the same vein, “projects for the care of creation, the protection of environmental resources and international solidarity and social responsibility” will likewise be encouraged.
Building bridges
Finally, in the light of the principles of the Social Doctrine of the Church, the Foundation will promote “social alliance, responsible entrepreneurship, social investment, humane and sustainable forms of work; integral ecology, sustainable development, ecological transition, health and scientific and technological research.”
And by virtue of the Pope’s mandate “to build bridges” — crystallised in the Fratelli tutti —the Foundation also intends to support “responsible communication,” characterised by truthfulness of sources, credibility and reliability.
The Vatican communiqué also stresses that “in the symbolic embrace of the colonnade of Saint Peter’s Basilica,” the Foundation is intended to care for “the weakest people, the outsider and the foreigner, the different and the marginalised, and the cultural and social frontiers in order to re-read the suffering of the world and offer solutions in the light of the Gospel and the papal Magisterium.”
The Foundation’s governing bodies are the General Council, made up of members of the Vatican Dicasteries concerned with the Foundation’s mission; and the Sustainability Committee, in which the Foundation’s benefactors are represented.
Pope appoints new Archpriest of Saint Peter's Basilica
Pope Francis appoints Cardinal Mauro Gambetti as new Archpriest of Saint Peter's Basilica, accepting the resignation of Cardinal Angelo Comastri.
The Holy Father has named Cardinal Mauro Gambetti as Vicar General for His Holiness for Vatican City, Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter and President of the Fabric of Saint Peter. Cardinal Gambetti had served as General Custos of the Sacred Convent of Saint Francis in Assisi from 2013 to 2020.
He succeeds Cardinal Angelo Comastri whose resignation from the positions was accepted by Pope Francis.
