Bishops around the world are encouraged to promote 60 hours of
Eucharistic adoration for the sanctification of all priests, for new
vocations, and for Pope Benedict XVI, who will celebrate 60 years as a
priest on June 29.
Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, head of the Vatican’s Congregation of the
Clergy, said this would be an ideal time to “gather around the pontiff
and show him our gratitude, our affection and our communion for the
service he offers to God and the Church.”
Above all, he continued, it
will show the commitment to “making the truth shine out in the world,”
which characterizes his pontificate.
In his statement published June 16 by L’Osservatore Romano, the
cardinal said the 60 hours of Eucharist adoration could be continuous or
spread out over the month of June and should be embraced “particularly
by priests.”
The statement was also signed by the congregation’s secretary, Archbishop Celso Morga Iruzubieta.
The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (the Day for Priestly
Sanctification) would be an ideal day to conclude the Eucharist
adoration, Cardinal Piacenza added.
Through this special initiative, the cardinal continued, “We could
offer homage to the pontiff with an extraordinary crown of prayers and
supernatural unity, that shows the real center of our lives, from which
all missionary and pastoral effort springs forth, as well as the
authentic face of the Church and her priests.”
The Congregation for the Clergy recommended meditating on biblical
passages featuring the Apostle Peter, the first Pope. It specifically
mentioned chapters 20 and 21 of the Gospel of John, in which the Lord
asks Peter if he loves him more than the rest, and chapter 16 of the
Gospel of Matthew, in which Christ tells him, “You are Peter, and on
this rock I will build my Church.”
Pope Benedict was ordained on June 29, 1951, together with his
brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, at the Cathedral of Freising in Germany,
on the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul.