Presbyteral Ordenation 22-5-1994

St. John Paul II

Saint Peter, May 22, 1994

Sunday of Pentecost in Saint Peter, Sunday of presbyteral ordinations. Thirty-nine deacons, 13 of them formed in the Redemptoris Mater Seminary and with white dawn and red stole, at the foot of the Confession altar, arranged in a row in the large presbytery, have been ordained priests by the Cardinal Vicar, Camilo Ruini. As every year, it had to be John Paul II who conferred the sacrament of Holy Order on young deacons. But this year the convalescence of the Holy Father at the Gemelli hospital has not allowed him to preside over the rite.

At the beginning of the homily, Cardinal Ruini addressed this pleasant thought to John Paul II:

“Today you should have been ordained by his hands, he said. The Lord has arranged things differently, but you know that by offering this time of suffering, the Pope is even closer to you, he is even more intensely the Father of your priesthood. We say thank you with all our hearts and listen to your words.

Thirty-nine new priests in the Solemnity of Pentecost: a great gift of the Spirit to the Church of Rome. Thirty-eight of these young “generous hearts” are incardinated to the Roman Church. Twenty-one from the Greater Roman Seminary; thirteen from the diocesan seminary “Redemptoris Mater”; three from the Almo Colegio Capránica ».