Rome, 4 December 2022. This morning Cardinal Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, OFM, Archbishop of Manaus (Province of the Immaculate Conception of the BVM, Brazil), took possession of the Title of St. Leonard of Port Maurice in Acilia.
On the Second Sunday of Advent, the cardinal, created Cardinal by Pope Francis in the Consistory held last 27 August, presided over the Eucharist in a solemn yet festive atmosphere. "It is beautiful how the text of the Gospel, today, speaks to us of conversion, of a new spirit, of the baptism of conversion," he said during his homily. "This Advent time is called the journey to Bethlehem, a journey of conversion. It is the journey of a new spirit: a spirit of brotherhood, a spirit of coexistence, a spirit of hope. But also a spirit that can praise and give thanks. This is the beauty of our faith: a life capable of praising and thanking God".
Card. Steiner also said he was very grateful to the Pontiff for receiving the Title of St. Leonard of Port Maurice "because he too was a friar minor".
The parish was entrusted to the Friars Minor until 2021. A history that today resumes its course, according to Father Juan Carlos Silva Yacila, FSA, parish priest since 2021. "I am delighted and grateful to the Lord for giving us His Eminence Cardinal Leonard, a Franciscan who continues to write the story of salvation that the friars began in 1936. And the Lord has called him under the gaze of Mary on the sixth day of his novena. We, too, sons of St Anne, are under the gaze of the Immaculate".
It was a great celebration for the parish community of St Leonard of Port Maurice: the Cardinal's Title was instituted by Pope Francis on 19 November 2016, but the titular Cardinal, His Eminence Cardinal Sebastian Koto Khoarai, was never able to take possession due to health problems. For this reason, the solemnity of the celebration was even more heartfelt by all the faithful: from the youngest, engaged in liturgical service, to the oldest, who joyfully welcomed the "return" of Franciscanism to Acilia. "This parish was born Franciscan," commented one of the catechists, "and it is a true gift of the Lord to be linked again to the charism of St Francis thanks to Card. Steiner".
Cardinals' Titles are churches in the diocese of Rome linked to a Cardinal at the time of his creation, symbolising the unity of the College of Cardinals as an instrument of support for the pastoral activity of the Pontiff, Bishop of Rome. Pope Benedict XVI clearly explained the meaning of the Title at the opening of the public Consistory on 18 February 2012: "The new Cardinals, through the assignment of the Title of a church in this City or a suburbicarian Diocese, are inserted to all effects into the Church of Rome led by the Successor of Peter, to cooperate closely with him in the governance of the universal Church. A double coat of arms marks the titular churches: on the left, that of the Pope pro tempore, on the right, that of the titular cardinal".
Melania Bruno
