An emotional meeting between Cardinal Baltazar Porras and the Venezuelan community in Ecuador took place on Tuesday in the Risen Christ parish, in the south of Quito, where the cardinal arrived to celebrate Holy Mass.
The visit of the cardinal of Venezuelan origin was part of the program of activities carried out by the bishops who have arrived in Ecuador to participate in the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress Quito 2024.
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The ceremony began with the entry in procession of an image of the Virgin of Chiquinquirá, one of the Marian devotions most loved by the Venezuelan people and which was received with songs from the faithful.
In his homily, the cardinal – sent by Pope Francis as papal legate – shared the emotion of “being in your midst” and thanked Ecuadorians for having welcomed Venezuelan migrants, just as in previous decades “we received in Venezuela “So many Colombians, Ecuadorians and Peruvians who (emigrated) for reasons, not only economic, but also political and because of dictatorships.”
“And there we learned to share the sorrows and pains, and also the joys of feeling that we were at home,” he stated, and gave as an example of unity the love we have for the Virgin Mary in Ecuador and Venezuela.
Likewise, he encouraged faith in the Risen Christ to grow within each person in order to heal the social wounds that affect the community.
As a gesture of closeness, Cardinal Porras donated to the parish a first-degree relic of the Venezuelan blessed José Gregorio Hernández, which will soon be enthroned on the altar, according to the parish priest at the end of the Eucharist.
For its part, the Venezuelan community thanked the cardinal for celebrating Mass with them and, among the various gifts, they gave him an image of the Virgin of Quinche, an Ecuadorian devotion, as a symbol of fraternity between both nations.
The Mass concluded with a brief veneration by the cardinal to the image of the Virgin of Chiquinquirá, between hugs and greetings from the faithful to the cardinal.
Eduardo Berdejo
Professional in Social Communication from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Peru, I have more than 20 years of experience in Catholic digital journalism. As part of ACI Prensa I have been sent to cover Pope Francis’ trips to Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, in addition to the Synodality Synod in the Vatican in 2023.