On Saturday, March 25, 2017, Cardinal De Kesel took possession of the Basilica of Sts. John and Paul. Fr. Augusto Matrullo, Rector of the Basilica, read the official document of Pope Francis naming His Eminence Jozef De Kesel the Titular Cardinal of the Basilica. Fr. Joachim Rego, Superior General, welcomed the Cardinal on behalf of the Passionist Congregation and the local community of Sts. John and Paul.
Speaking to the crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square following his weekly Angelus blessing yesterday, the Pope urged those present to give the Bible the same place in daily life as mobile phones.
“What would happen if we turned back when we forget it, if we opened it more times a day, if we read the message of God contained in the Bible the way we read messages on our mobile phones?” he asked.
The Bible, he explained, contains the Word of God, the most effective tool in fighting evil and keeping us close to God.
Inviting the faithful to carry a pocket-sized Gospel all the time, the Pope concluded with the words: “don’t forget what would happen if we treated the Bible as we treat our mobile phones, always with us, always close to us!”
Read the 2017 Lenten Circular Letter of the Passionist Superior General
Lent is a time for remembering. It is the time to reflect and ask ourselves what we would be if God had closed his doors to us. What would we be without his mercy that never tires of forgiving us and always gives us the chance to begin anew? Lent is the time to ask ourselves where we would be without the help of so many people who in a thousand quiet ways have stretched out their hands and in very concrete ways given us hope and enabled us to make a new beginning.
Lent is the time to start breathing again. It is the time to open our hearts to the breath of the One capable of turning our dust into humanity.
– Pope Francis, Ash Wednesday 2017
OUR PASSIONIST CHARISM 