Pope to mark World Day for Consecrated Life

February 01, 2013 - Pope Benedict XVI will mark the Catholic Church’s 16th World Day for Consecrated Life on Saturday with a Eucharistic Celebration in Rome’s St. Peter’s Basilica for men and women religious as well as all the faithful. The tradition was begun by Blessed John Paul II who marked it for the first time in 1997 with a Mass on the liturgical feast of the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the temple. The purposes behind the World Day for Consecrated Life are to thank the Lord for religious life which expresses the holiness of the Church, to express appreciation for the witness of those who have chosen their discipleship of Christ through the three evangelical vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, and is also an occasion for them to renew their vows in their gift of self to the Lord. Among those joining Pope Benedict at the evening Mass will be Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.