Cardinal Chou Shouren presided over the Eucharist at St. John of La Salle in Rome, officially accepting his candidacy. In his homily at Mass, the cardinal pointed out that the Church teaches us that we must not use improper means to achieve our goals; all Christians are called to walk with the Church and participate in discerning and fulfilling the mission of the Church.
(Vatican News Network) Hong Kong Bishop Cardinal Chow Shouren presided over the Eucharist at the San Giovanni Battista de La Salle Church in Rome on October 22, officially accepting his candidacy. Before the Mass, an official of the Holy See and the parish priest of St. John of La Salle read out Pope Francis’s decree granting Cardinal Zhou the title of the parish and the letter he wrote to the parish. The faithful who attended the service welcomed the Cardinal with warm applause and offered hymns full of thanksgiving and joy during the Mass.
More than a dozen priests concelebrated with Cardinal Zhou, most of whom were Cardinal Zhou’s Jesuit brothers, and several others were priests serving in the Holy See and the parish priests of the parish. The cardinal celebrated Mass in English and his homily was promptly translated into Italian. The Sunday Gospel records that the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus with a question in order to attack Him (cf. Mt 22:15-21). The cardinal pointed out that clergy, especially bishops, must now also beware of pitfalls. They are afraid of being interviewed by unfriendly media, including some Catholic media.
“They will ask questions in every possible way to trap us so they can choose what they want to hear and amplify, distort, elaborate or simply tell lies to please their readers and advance their agenda. To them Generally speaking, this is just a means to achieve the goal they care about, that is, not concealing the truth and safeguarding freedom of speech. However, we should know that our church’s long-term teaching is that improper means cannot be used to achieve the goal. Otherwise, we should know , we will feel free to use any means, including unethical means, to achieve our goals.”
That day is also the Church’s “World Mission Day”. The cardinal took this opportunity to say that the ongoing Synod of Bishops on the theme of “comrades” has made us clearly aware that all Christians are called to walk with the Church, participate in discerning and fulfilling the Church’s duties. duty of.
“The Church is the whole People of God, and the mission of our Church cannot be discerned and determined solely by the hierarchy. Our sacred duty is to stretch out our hands, accompany and listen to our brothers and sisters, no matter what their status and background, no matter what Are they inside our tent or outside our tent”.
The Cardinal concluded by telling the faithful who led his congregation to walk together and accompany each other, so that we can bear witness to the beauty of communion and unity in God in a deeply divided world.
St. John’s La Salle Church is located in a community in New Rome. It is in a modern style with a spacious and bright interior, giving people a novel and refreshing feeling. After the mass, the parish priest of this church presented Cardinal Zhou with a sacred image of “Mother of the People’s Rescue of Rome” on behalf of all the parishioners. The cardinal presented a book introducing the cathedral of the Diocese of Hong Kong to his cathedral. Finally, the priests participating in the consecration signed three certificates from the Holy See, indicating that the process of accepting the leadership of the church was successfully completed.
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2023-10-23 12:41:57
