Bishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga Pope: You can’t be missionaries if you stop adoring the Lord
Addressing Claretians, who are in Rome for their General Chapter, Pope Francis noted that the theme of their meeting – “Rooted and Bold” – “presupposes a life of prayer and contemplation that allows you to contemplate the mirror, which is Christ, so that you yourselves may become mirrors for others”.
“You are missionaries”, said the Pope, “and if you want your mission to be truly fruitful, you cannot separate it from contemplation and from a life of intimacy with the Lord”. He added, “If you want to be witnesses, you can’t cease being adorers”.
He explained that their mission must be one of closeness, and that simply observing from afar out of curiosity is not enough. “Following the example of Father Claret, you cannot be mere spectators of reality. Participate in it”, said the Pope. In that way, he adds, the Claretians will be able to “transform the realities of sin” that they encounter along the way.
Legionary bishop named president of Vatican Governorate
Pope Francis September 8 named the 76-year-old Bishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga as president of the Governorate of Vatican City State.
Bishop Vérgez, a member of the Legionaries of Christ, succeeds the 78-year-old Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello as head of government of Vatican City and president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State, a legislative body.
The Holy See press office said on September 8 that Bishop Vérgez would take up his new role October 1, the day of Cardinal Bertello’s 79th birthday, and that the Pope had conferred on him the personal title of archbishop.
Bishop Vérgez was born in Salamanca, Spain, in 1945. He made his perpetual profession with the Legionaries of Christ in 1965 and was ordained a priest in 1969.
He studied philosophy and theology at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University and obtained a diploma from the School of Archives at the Vatican’s Secret Archives.
He began working for the Vatican in 1972, at the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
In October 2020, the Pope selected Bishop Vérgez as a member of the Vatican’s Commission for Confidential Matters. The commission is led by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, a former Legionary of Christ who is prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family, and Life.
Vatican sends 15,000 ice creams to Rome prisoners
Pope Francis sent 15,000 ice creams to prisoners in Rome as the Eternal City sweltered in the summer heat, the Vatican announced.
The gelati were taken to the Regina Coeli and Rebibbia prisons by the papal almoner Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the Office of Papal Charities said in a September 7 press release.
The Vatican department that performs charitable acts on behalf of the Pope said that in the summer months it sought to make “small evangelical gestures to help and give hope to thousands of people in Rome’s prisons.”
The office explained that it focused on undertaking corporal works of mercy during the summer, when canteens and charities in Rome are forced to limit their activities.
“Therefore, as every year, small groups of homeless people, or those housed in dormitories, were taken to the sea or lake, near Castel Gandolfo, for an afternoon of relaxation and dinner in a pizzeria,” it noted.
The department added that it had also overseen the supply of medicines and medical equipment to developing countries.