First priest ordained in Oman
Oman is a small sultanate in the Arabian Peninsula, with a Muslim majority and a Catholic population of only 2%, which is approximately sixty thousand faithful. The authorities, however, allow them to run schools and meet for worship, and in the past the sultan has even contributed to the building of Christian churches and donated an organ to the church in Muscat, the capital.
This year, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord brought great joy to this Catholic community, which belongs to the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia, because on this date its first priestly ordination in history took place.
The priest ordained was Fr. Dickson Eugene, who is from the Salesian Province of Bangalore, India, but has spent most of his life in Oman. Bishop Paul Hinder, OFM Cap, then Vicar Apostolic of Southern Arabia and Vacant Seat Administrator of Northern Arabia, presided at the ceremony, which was held at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Muscat.
Authenticity of Holy Shroud confirmed once again
After the debates triggered by the analyses of the Holy Shroud of Turin in 1988 using the controversial carbon-14 dating technique, the result of a new study was released on April 11 and shines new light on the matter. The study was based on the innovative wide-angle X-ray scattering method, which indicates that the relic is approximately two thousand years old, a figure that corresponds to the date of the Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The study, which began in 2019, was headed by scientist Liberato De Caro, of the Institute of Crystallography of the National Research Council, Bari, in collaboration with Professor Giulio Fanti, of the University of Padua. The method used made it possible to examine the natural ageing of flax cellulose in a sample taken from the Holy Shroud.
Relics of St. Bernadette tour the United States
For the first time in history, the relics of St. Bernadette Soubirous, seer of Lourdes, left the European continent and crossed the Atlantic Ocean to travel across the vast territory of the United States. The pilgrimage is the fruit of a request made by the Archbishop of Miami Thomas Gerard Wenski to the Lourdes Shrine.
The relics, preserved in a beautiful octagonal reliquary, arrived at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Miami on April 7. The pilgrimage will continue until August 4, with visits scheduled to thirty-two parishes in twenty-six dioceses throughout the country.
Seminary is desecrated in Ukraine
Most Rev. Vitaliy Kryvytskyi, SDB, Bishop of Kyiv-Zhytomyr Diocese, reported that the seminary of Vorzel, in the municipality of Irpin, outside Kiev, was invaded and desecrated by Russian soldiers, who destroyed some images, among them a statue of Our Lady of Fatima, and looted liturgical objects, including a chalice used by John Paul II during his visit to the country in 2001.
Carmo Rodeia, director of the Communication Office of the Fatima Shrine, in Portugal, told Lusa Agency that the shrine wishes to offer a statue of the Virgin of Fatima to the seminary to replace the one that was vandalized, in consideration of the brutal loss suffered by the community.
Rosary Rallies for Men
on the Increase Worldwide
Not even inclement temperatures prevented men of faith from uniting to pray the Holy Rosary for peace on April 2.
They belong to the Warsaw Men’s Rosary group – Męski Różaniec Warszawa –, which published some impressive images on its social networks that left Catholics around the world in awe: a processional Rosary prayed in the streets of the Polish capital, under snowy and freezing conditions, with a large framed picture of the Blessed Virgin being carried at the lead.
Following their example, on April 23 the Plaza de la Villa in Madrid was filled with men reciting the Marian prayer with marked fervour. Their intention, according to the organization’s Spanish counterpart, was to fulfil the will of Our Lady, who has asked in different apparitions that the Rosary be prayed to obtain salvation and peace in the world.
Other countries where Rosary Rallies for Men are being organized include Ukraine, England, Ireland and the US. The organizers hope that this devotion becomes more common and spreads throughout the world.
Cameroon renews consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Plagued by internal war for the last five years, the Republic of Cameroon is at a critical moment in its history. For this reason, the Bishops of this African nation organized a national pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of Marienberg, located in the coastal region of Edéa, to pray for peace.
The pilgrimage began on Saturday April 23 with a prayer vigil, culminating in the renewal of the consecration of the country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, during a solemn Eucharist presided by Biship Abraham Boualo Kome, head of the Diocese of Bafang and President of the Cameroon Bishops’ Conference, on Sunday morning.
Course for the perfection of liturgical music in Italy
COPERLIM, a course sponsored by the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome, which for years has fostered the liturgical and musical formation of the Church in Italy, has been renewed and relaunched by the Italian Bishops’ Conference. Dedicated to those who work in parishes or religious institutes, the course is also widely used by schools of sacred music throughout the country.
The new features presented in the teaching method include the creation of an online study module, in addition to classes on different topics that aim to deepen theoretical and practical knowledge of music and the Liturgy.
Nun saves priest’s life in Nice
The scene of a religious terrorist attack in 2020, the city of Nice once again became the scene of violence this past April 24. This time the criminal act targeted Polish priest Krzysztof Rudzinski, aged fifty-seven, who was preparing to begin a Eucharistic Celebration in the Church of Saint-Pierre-d’Arène. He was attacked by a French citizen, identified as Kevin R., who entered the church and stabbed him more than twenty times.
The priest’s life was saved by Sister Marie-Claude, seventy-two years old, who lunged at the attacker and, despite sustaining a wound to her forearm, wrenched the knife from his hands. Both religious received care at the local health centre. The assailant was arrested, manifesting psychiatric disorders.
Oldest Salesian in the world dies in São Paulo
Fr. Ladislau Klinicki, SDB, of the Santa Teresinha Salesian community in São Paulo, considered the oldest Salesian in the world, passed away on April 12, aged one hundred and seven years.
Born in the Russian city of Kursk in 1914, Fr. Ladislaus made his religious profession as a Salesian in 1934 and was ordained a priest in Warsaw in 1943. During the Second World War, he spent five years in the Nazi concentration camps.
Arriving in Brazil in 1968, he carried out intense apostolic work in the State of São Paulo, both in the interior and in the capital. He received the St. Paul the Apostle medal, in the priestly service category from the Archdiocese of São Paulo, in 2020. In the last years of his life, Fr. Ladislau’s missionary activity was highlighted by his constant availability for the ministry of Confession.
