Msgr Guido Marini. Photo: Vatican News Pope to meet 500 poor from across Europe in Assisi
Pope Francis will visit Assisi, Italy on November 12, where he will spend time with a group of 500 poor people from across Europe, the Vatican announced Friday.
The encounter will take place as part of the Catholic Church’s celebration of the 5th annual World Day of the Poor, which falls this year on Sunday, November 14.
According to the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation, which is organising the meeting, Pope Francis will make a private visit to the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi, the birthplace of St Francis.
The Pope will then meet a group of 500 poor people, praying with them and listening to their experiences.
The theme of this year’s World Day of the Poor is “The poor you will always have with you,” the words of Jesus recorded in Mark 14:7 after a woman anointed him with precious ointment.
Pope Francis ordains Msgr Guido Marini a bishop in St Peter’s Basilica
On Sunday, Pope Francis consecrated two new bishops for the Catholic Church in St Peter’s Basilica: Bishop Guido Marini of Tortona, Italy, and Bishop Andrés Gabriel Ferrada Moreira, secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy.
During the Mass, Pope Francis reminded the bishops-elect to always be close to God, their brother bishops, priests, and the People of God. “The first task of the bishop is to pray,” he said, “and not like a parrot, to pray with the heart, to pray.
“Do not make excuses about not having time to pray,” he added. “Remove the other things, because praying is the bishop’s first duty.”
Bishop Guido Marini, 56, was the Vatican’s head master of ceremonies for papal liturgies for 14 years. On August 29, Pope Francis named him to lead the Diocese of Tortona, which is in northern Italy in proximity to Marini’s hometown of Genoa.
Bishop Andrés Gabriel Ferrada, 52, is from Chile’s capital city, Santiago. He was named the titular archbishop of Tiburnia in honor of his new position as secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy.
To seek status over service is spiritual illness – Pope warns
In his message before the Angelus prayer October 17, Pope Francis said there is a worldly mentality entices even Catholics “to experience everything, including relationships, in order to feed our ambition, to climb the ladder to success, to reach important positions.”
“The quest for personal prestige can become a spiritual malady, masquerading even behind good intentions: for example, when behind the good we do and preach, we actually seek ourselves alone and our own affirmation,” he said from a window overlooking St Peter’s Square.
This is also something that occurs in the Catholic Church, he said: “How many times, we Christians – who should be servants – try to climb up, to get ahead.”
Pope Francis spoke about the longing for recognition during a reflection on the day’s Gospel reading from St Mark, in which two disciples, James and John, ask Jesus if they can one day sit at his right and left in glory and explained that it is through our Christian Baptism that we are immersed in Jesus and receive the grace that directs us to follow Christ in service to others.