Lima, Peru, May 22, 2005 / 22:00 pm
This weekend the Archbishop of Santiago, Chile, and President of the Latin American Bishops Conference (CELAM), Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz, entrusted the preparations for CELAM’s V General Meeting to St. Rose of Lima, the first native-born saint of Latin America.
During a visit to the saint’s shrine in Lima, the Chilean cardinal reflected upon the life of St. Rose, to whom he has a special devotion, and prayed for the saint’s intercession for the upcoming meeting, so that “our peoples may receive the presence of the Lord.”
At the final Mass for the 30th Assembly of CELAM, concelebrated by cardinals and bishops from all over the continent, Cardinal Errazuriz recalled St. Rose as “the palpable demonstration of holiness in the new world,” and he made reference to various moments of her life in which she expressed her intense love for Jesus, the Blessed Mother and the Church.
“She was a Eucharistic woman” who strived to be the “broken bread” for others, listened attentively to the Word and received Communion frequently.