Chile: On Chilean Patroness Day, Cardinal ordered a new priest

On Our Lady of Carmen’s Day, a large number of faithful approached the Basilica and National Sanctuary of Our Lady of Carmen, in Maipú, to accompany the deacon Carlos Iván Romero Villarroel in his priestly ordination, by imposition of the hands of the Archbishop of Santiago, Cardinal Fernando Chomali Garib.

This Wednesday, holiday for Chileans on the occasion of the feast of their mother and patron, the Virgen del Carmen, whose devotion summoned more than 400,000 faithful in the Sanctuary of La Tirana, to the north of the country, and with expressions of faith in different parts of Chile, was the day chosen by the deacon, which after seven years of formation in Italy, returned especially to live this moment with their loved ones.

Within that framework, Cardinal Chomali express His “immense joy” of being there, under the invocation of Our Lady of Carmen, to hold the priestly ordination of Romero Villarroel.

The purple shared with the young man and with the community some reflections arising by meditating “long” on this day.

First, he said that the Catholic faith “is a practical faith that helps us live better,” and advised: “If we want to know what is happening in the world, what is happening in history, let’s read the Bible; if we want to know what is the deepest meaning of our existence, let’s read the Bible; if we want to know what is happening in this precise moment, let’s read the Bible.”

Given the current reality, the archbishop recalled the words of the Lord: “Wheat and tares grow together.” In this regard, he said: “How tares, how much tares. Corruption, that we see it daily; false medical licenses that hurt us to the soul; violence everywhere, and so we could be listing so much tares that it has made many people feel much disappointment of life, disappointment of the world, that many people feel desperate,” he lamented.

“The Lord tells us: ‘Be careful, wheat and tares grow together.’

“Today Carlos, when he is ordained a priest, tells us that the Word of God is truthful, that he will continue to call operators to work in his viney Lord, ”he said.

“After this Holy Mass a new priest will come out that will do so much well to the world, both well to the Church and so much well to the community, but we will also be more hopeful, we will be more confident, we will leave more – in a certain sense – Catholics, because we will realize that there are words of eternal life,” he summarized.

Directing the young priest “that is consecrated in the midst of this world”, Cardinal Chomali chose the advice that Pope Francis gave him when creating him Cardinal.

“He told me three things that I think apply perfectly well to our brother Carlos. First: Hands together to pray to God. A priest who does not pray, a bishop who does not pray, a cardinal who does not pray, is a person consecrated in danger. Prayer, pray for the people of God, pray for the acquaintances and by the strangers, to pray for the peace of the world. Priest, with his hands together, speaks to the men of God, and speaks to God of men, ”he said.

“Secondly, he told us (to the cardinals) that we had open eyes to expand our gaze, open eyes to discover that everything is more than the parties. Look at what happens, understand the world, open the look,” he recommended.

“And thirdly, he asked us to walk barefoot, to touch, to feel, to cry poverty, the sufferings of the world, to make us flesh in the sufferings of the world, to accompany Jesus Christ in his own redeeming conditions that meant us salvation,” he added.

“What wonder would it, the consecrated, could transmit this in such a superficial society, such a frivolous society, to find people capable of understanding the world from the heart of God as a priest does,” he concluded.