Cardinal entrusts next Latin American Bishops’ summit to St. Rose of Lima

Lima, Peru, May 22, 2005 / 22:00 pm

This weekend the Archbishop of Santiago, Chile, and President of the Latin American Bishops Conference (CELAM), Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz, entrusted the preparations for CELAM’s V General Meeting to St. Rose of Lima, the first native-born saint of Latin America.

During a visit to the saint’s shrine in Lima, the Chilean cardinal reflected upon the life of St. Rose, to whom he has a special devotion, and prayed for the saint’s intercession for the upcoming meeting, so that “our peoples may receive the presence of the Lord.”

At the final Mass for the 30^th Assembly of CELAM, concelebrated by cardinals and bishops from all over the continent, Cardinal Errazuriz recalled St. Rose as “the palpable demonstration of holiness in the new world,” and he made reference to various moments of her life in which she expressed her intense love for Jesus, the Blessed Mother and the Church.

“She was a Eucharistic woman” who strived to be the “broken bread” for others, listened attentively to the Word and received Communion frequently.

Likewise, he pointed out that the saint “called on priests to be more fervent and to go to the missions” and she reminded them they should not preach “the Word of God with vanity but rather with simplicity.”

“She encountered Jesus on the cross, in the Eucharist and in the poor,” the cardinal said, calling her “Rose of the poor, Rose of the Eucharist, Rose of Jesus, Rose of the Passion, Rose of the Holy Spirit.”

Cardinal Errazuriz also prayed that the bishops would “follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit so that we can prepare [for the meeting] according to God’s will.”