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Pope beatifies five in Vatican ceremony
Vatican City, Nov 09: Pope John Paul II today beatified five new `blesseds` of the Roman Catholic Church whose charitable acts made them examples, he said, to a world obsessed with consumerism.
Vatican City, Nov 09: Pope John Paul II today beatified five new "blesseds" of the Roman Catholic Church whose charitable acts made them examples, he said, to a world obsessed with consumerism.
In his homily, the 83-year-old Pope called on Christians to "reflect on the society of today, tempted at
times to convert everything into merchandise and profit, leaving aside the values and dignity which have no price."
In a mass celebrated in bright autumn sunshine before thousands of pilgrims in St Peter's Square, the Pope beatified Sister Rosalie Rendu of France, Mother Bonifacia Rodriguez Castro of Spain, Spanish priest Juan Nepomuceno Zegri Y Moreno, Belgian priest Valentin Paquay and Italian lay religious figure Luigi Maria Monti. Biographies of the five read out at the mass acknowledged their exemplary lives in the catholic church in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The high point of the ceremony came when the pope pronounced the words of the beatification.
As the choir of the Sistine chapel sang, giant portraits of the new blesseds hanging from the facade of St Peter's Basilica were unveiled to tumultuous applause from the thousands of pilgrims.
Bureau Report
In a mass celebrated in bright autumn sunshine before thousands of pilgrims in St Peter's Square, the Pope beatified Sister Rosalie Rendu of France, Mother Bonifacia Rodriguez Castro of Spain, Spanish priest Juan Nepomuceno Zegri Y Moreno, Belgian priest Valentin Paquay and Italian lay religious figure Luigi Maria Monti. Biographies of the five read out at the mass acknowledged their exemplary lives in the catholic church in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The high point of the ceremony came when the pope pronounced the words of the beatification.
As the choir of the Sistine chapel sang, giant portraits of the new blesseds hanging from the facade of St Peter's Basilica were unveiled to tumultuous applause from the thousands of pilgrims.
Bureau Report