Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Arequipa (Agenzia Fides) - “This has been a celebration attended by over 30,000 faithful, from all the regions of the Archdiocese, which is 25,000 square kilometers,” Archbishop Javier Del Rio Alba of Arequipa said, in reference to the Mass for the Opening of the Jubilee Year of the 400th anniversary of the creation of the Diocese of Arequipa, which he presided this past Sunday in the stadium of the National University of San Agustin, at 11am.
At the beginning of the Mass, which was concelebrated by 100 priests from this ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the Archbishop made an historical summary of the life and mission of the Church since its foundation on July 20, 1969, and thanked the first religious orders who evangelizes this part of the country: Dominicans, Franciscans, Mercedarians, Augustinians, and Jesuits.
In his homily, Archbishop Javier Del Rio Alba explained that the meaning of this Jubilee Year was inspired by Servant of God John Paul II's Letter “Tertio Millennio Ineunte,” from which he took three main ideas to help the faithful in living this special time: thanksgiving, reconciliation, and social justice. Thus, he first encouraged them to live this year in thanksgiving for the gifts received over these 400 years. In regards to the conversion, he mentioned that it should be a time of conversion in seeing God's going, and of reconciliation with God and our brethren in living better our Christian faith. In addressing the theme of social justice, the Archbishop of Arequipa mentioned that “may the lasting fruit of this Jubilee Year be seen in the installation of Caritas in the parishes, the beginning of a mega-project for a Studies and Integral Human Development Center, at the service of youth and mothers with little resources, inspired by the third encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI, “Caritas in Veritate.”
Before concluding the Mass, Archbishop Del Rio blessed and sent out the 10 young artists that have been working on sacred art and iconography in the city's churches, with which, “we hope to recover the heartfelt prayer through the religious art that is patrimony of the Universal Church,” he concluded. The environment of joy and fervor in the Mass with over 30,000 faithful ended with a final procession of the images of the “Virgen de Chapi” and the “Cristo de la Caridad.” (RG) (Agenzia Fides 22/7/2009)
