Vatican City, 16 April 2013: A major highlight for the Year of Faith will be a two-day
celebration in Rome on the Church’s teaching about the dignity of life and how it
fits with the New Evangelization. Father Geno Sylva, the English-language official
for the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, hopes the event will
speak so clearly to the secular world that it is “going to have to listen and say,
‘well, there is a culture of life coming out of the Church.’”
The June 15-16
international gathering will begin on Saturday morning with a catechesis session on
“The Gospel of Life and the New Evangelization.” The event will “explore the enduring
and timeless truths of Blessed John Paul II's 1995 encyclical, ‘Evangelium Vitae,’
and the central role that the Gospel of Life continues to have in the Church's mission
of the New Evangelization,” according to organizers.
Fr. Sylva explained in
an April 12 interview with CNA/EWTN News that it’s important for people to realize
that the teaching moments are to help them “understand our faith, what are the reasons
why we believe.” “So, when they come here, we’re hoping that their minds are touched
as well as their hearts,” he said.
Cardinal Séan O’Malley of Boston will be
offering his reflections for English speakers at the Pontifical Urbanian College,
followed by a discussion panel with Prof. Francis Beckwith and Robert Royal. The presence
of Cardinal O’Malley is significant because he is the head of the U.S. bishops pro-life
committee. But his profile jumped even higher when Pope Francis named him on April
13 as one of eight cardinals who will advise him on reforming the Church’s central
administration.
On Saturday afternoon and evening, pilgrims will have the chance
to visit the tomb of St. Peter, adore the Blessed Sacrament, receive the Sacrament
of Reconciliation, and process down the main street leading to St. Peter’s Basilica
in a candlelight vigil. The weekend will finish with a Mass presided over by Pope
Francis in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday morning. But the Gospel of Life weekend is
not all the pontifical council has planned for the Year of Faith, which will finish
on Nov. 24, 2013.
Another international event is planned for the Feast of Corpus
Christi on June 2. The celebration is being designed so that as many people as possible
can participate, even if they cannot be present in Rome. Pope Francis will lead
an hour of Eucharistic Adoration at 5:00 p.m. Rome time in St. Peter’s Basilica. Each
bishop around the world is also being invited to simultaneously preside over a Holy
Hour for the feast.
Between July 4 and 7, seminarians, novices and those discerning
their vocation are being invited to attend a gathering that gives them the chance
to pray in front of St. Peter’s tomb and experience the universal nature of the Church.
Looking
ahead to the fall, Fr. Sylva highlighted the “wonderful” events the council has planned
for catechists, families and a celebration of Mary. Source: CNA/EWTN