Romana

On April 29, Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello conferred priestly ordination on 31 faithful of the Opus Dei Prelature. The ceremony took place in St. Eugene’s Basilica.

In his homily, Cardinal Bertello—President of the Governorate of Vatican City—reminded those present that “each priest must have the same relationship with Jesus that our Lord has with the Father: remaining united to Christ, without trying to pass on his own ideas, and always remembering that without Him he can do nothing.” “Dear ordinands,” he continued, “I am sure that your ministry will merge into the service of that supreme Word of God, Jesus Christ and his Gospel, in proclaiming the love of the Father and his mercy.”

Cardinal Bertello also reminded the new priests that “in a few moments you will be transformed into Christ. You will be his living instruments, as though your person disappeared into His, so that He may act through you.”

The Cardinal invited the new priests to be “priest-priests, priests one hundred percent, as your holy founder St. Josemaría used to say. Exercise your priesthood with deep joy and ardent faith. The brothers and sisters you will encounter in your ministry expect from you the prophetic testimony that the Eucharist is the heart of the priesthood. It doesn’t matter what type of ministry is entrusted to you; always and everywhere you are called to build up Opus Dei, the Work of God, in humility, obedience and charity.”

During his homily Cardinal Bertello thanked the Prelate of Opus Dei, Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz, for inviting him to preside over the ordinations and said that “this helps me to feel even closer to the Work, and obliges me to always accompany you with my prayer.”

The new priests had received their diaconal ordination from Msgr. Javier Echevarría, Prelate of Opus Dei, who died on December 12, 2016. These are the new priests and their countries of origin: Alejandro Pardo Fernández (Spain), Etienne Montero Redondo (Belgium), Andrés Echevarría Escribens (Peru), Giovanni Manfrini (Italy), Erwin See (the Philippines), Álvaro Ruiz Antón (Spain), Javier Ruiz Antón (Spain), Rafael Peró Baig (Lebanon), Salvador Rego Bárcena (Canada), Carlos Aníbal Valencia Ospina (Colombia), Diogo da Cunha e Lorena de Brito (Portugal), Francisco José Chapa Sancho (Spain), Luigi Vassallo (Italy), Pablo Rojo Mardones (Spain), Martin Mundia Gikonyo (Kenya), Álvaro René Villamar Rosales (Guatemala), Álvaro Javier Mira García (Spain), Alexander Vaz Serrano (Spain), Santiago Callejo Goena (Spain), Joseph Frederick Keefe (United States), Daniele Guasconi (Italy), Francisco Javier Bordonaba Leiva (Spain), Phillip Joseph Elias (Australia), John Paul Watson (Australia), Rafael Alejandro Quintero Pérez (Venezuela), António Maria Braga Dias Alves Mendes (Portugal), Benjamín Goldenberg Ibáñez (Chile), Gerard Jiménez Clopés (Spain), Dante Parado Estepa Jr. (the Philippines), Adam Andrzej Sołomiewicz (Poland), Ricardo Guillermo Bazán Mogollón (Peru).