The letter on the occasion of the new ordinations on Saturday, June 25 in Rome
Those to be ordained priests and deacons of the Priestly Fraternity of the Missionaries of St. Charles BorromeoTo our dear friends: Deacon Giuseppe Cassina, Deacon Alessio Cottafava, Deacon David Crespo, Deacon Tommaso De Carlini, Deacon Giovanni Fasani, Deacon Cristiano Ludovici, Deacon Stefano Motta, Deacon John Roderick, Deacon Stefano Tenti, Deacon Davide Tonini, and to Marco Vignolo and Mattia Zuliani
Dear friends, At this time when, through the imposition of the hands of our dear Bishop Massimo Camisasca, you will receive the grace of priestly or diaconate ordination which will forever conform you to Christ our Lord, I want to express my closeness and that of the entire Movement of Communion and Liberation, along with my joy and gratitude for the gift of your vocation. With you, I thank your parents and friends who have supported and accompanied you to this point, those who educated you in the seminary, and the superiors who have paternally guided you to this step, including in a special way our dear Fr. Paolo Sottopietra.
For each of you, I’m asking the grace that Pope Francis wished for every priest during the Jubilee celebration on June 2 in this Holy Year of Mercy, that you, “become priests ever more ready to ‘receive mercy’ and to ‘give mercy.’”
Mercy, as Pope Francis, once again, reminded us, “is not fragmented or partial: mercy can see things as a whole and grasp what is most necessary.” So that your definitive and total entrustment to Christ may be renewed each day in the yearning for His glory in humanity, in the history of the world and in the lives of your brothers and sisters, to whom you are sent in every part of the world. To them, through authentic fraternity, you carry and bring new life to the beauty and humanity of the charism of Fr. Giussani, which seized and fascinated each of us through the historical reality of the Movement in service of the entire Church.
Fraternally,