Last weekend in the Archdiocese of Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco (Mexico), 32 priests and 12 deacons were ordained, in two ceremonies held at the Sanctuary of the Mexican Martyrs.
The diaconal ordinations took place on May 18, while the priestly ordinations took place the following day, Sunday, on the Solemnity of Pentecost.
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During the Eucharist on May 19, Cardinal Francisco Robles Ortega, Archbishop of Guadalajara, sent a message to the new priests, highlighting the importance of their mission in the Catholic Church and in today’s world.
“It makes no sense to be a Church, to be a family, to be a congregation of disciples of Christ, if it is not for the mission. Each one from his state of life, each one from his charisma, each one of us, disciples of Christ, are committed to the mission in a very special way,” said Cardinal Robles.
This mission, the cardinal explained, “has the consequence of creating unity in the variety of ways of thinking, ways of being, ways of expressing opinions, ways of seeing life in the midst of such a plural and diverse world.” .
In a world “so polarized and so divided,” he described the ordination of the new priests as a “timely action of the Holy Spirit.”
For this reason, he stated that all of us consecrated to Christ “have the mission of announcing the only message that makes fraternity, that makes communion, that makes a commitment to life, that makes work for peace.”
Likewise, Cardinal Robles urged them to convince others, as well as themselves, “that by the path of division, discord, confrontation, we are not going to achieve anything,” instead, he invited them to follow “the path of unity and of reaching out to each other to build the good of all, the good for all.”
There are 523 diocesan priests ordained in the last 12 years
According to information consulted by ACI Prensa with the Diocesan Weekly of Guadalajara, 523 diocesan priests have been ordained since Cardinal Francisco Robles Ortega took possession of the pastoral government in 2012.
This is without counting the ordinations of religious congregations established in the region.
Between June 2022 and May 2023 alone, 107 priests were ordained for the Catholic Church in the entity, including a historic milestone in June 2022, when 70 new priests were ordained in the Archdiocese of Guadalajara in a single weekend.
With more than 5 million inhabitants, the Guadalajara metropolitan area is the third largest in the country, after Mexico City and Monterrey. More than 90% of its population declares themselves Catholic.
The Guadalajara seminar, the largest in the world
According to your website, The Diocesan Seminary of Guadalajara has produced “as fruits around 10,000 priests, more than 100 bishops, among them 5 cardinals, and its main pride is 15 canonized holy martyrs.”
The Diocesan Seminary of Guadalajara, which currently trains 900 seminarians, is considered the largest in Mexico and the world.
According to the seminary authorities, an average of 470 new prospects enter the seminary each year.
Of those 470, 250 are “Family Seminarians”, as young people and adolescents with vocational concerns are known who attend secondary or high school and live with their families, but who attend the seminary or a vocational center close to their home for a weekend. of the week, every 15 days.
Diego López Colin
I am a graduate of Journalism at the Carlos Septién García School with experience in religious institutional communication. Since 2016 he has written for digital media and, since 2018, I have reported the most important news about Catholic events in Mexico for the EWTN news channel. He has been ACI Prensa correspondent in Mexico since 2023.