With Blessed John XXIII now declared a saint, the seminary in Mabolo, Cebu City would subsequently be renamed to reflect the pontiff’s title in the Catholic church hierarchy.
Blessed John XXIII Seminary will become Saint John XXIII Seminary according to its rector, Fr. Benedicto Sarchez Jr.
Fr. Sarchez said that originally, the seminary was Pope John XXIII Seminary, when Pope John was beatified in 2000, they changed the sign at seminary’s frontage, but the documents were not changed as they anticipated his canonization.
Fr. Sarchez said that the seminary had 170 seminarians last school year, 33 of them had just graduated and they have about 70 new applicants. As soon as the school year opens in June, they will include the life of Saint John XXIII in the seminarians’ formation. They will also seek to acquire a relic of the new saint to be placed at the seminary’s chapel.
Relics
Fr. Dennis Ruiz of Tabor Hill, who got close enough to touch Pope John Paul II in 2005, a year before he died, has facilitated the display of relics of the two saints who were canonized yesterday.
“There was already holiness in him. The moment you see him, you get speechless and you stare at him like he is heaven,” says Ruiz.
He is currently holding an exhibit of the relics of John Paul II and John XXIII in Tabor Hill Chapel. He was able to get blood and hair samples of John Paul II. He also has the Pope’s hard hat he used in one of his tours.
He was also able to obtain a chasuble and a skin from John XXIII. These relics will be taken out from the glass wall on Sunday during their canonization for the public to view and kiss.
Just days before Blessed John XXIII is finally “raised to the altar”, a church group has been running a nationwide tour of his sacred relics, starting April 25 until May 31 in a bid to promote devotion to him whom Catholics of his time loved to call “the Good Pope”.
“While it is common knowledge that we Filipinos have a bias towards Pope John Paul II who will also be canonized with him, as Catholics it is good to learn as much as we can about the life and legacy of John XXIII,” said event coordinator Br. Dave Dela Cruz who was at the Radio Veritas Chapel on West Avenue for the first leg of the tour.
Good Pope
A report from the Agence France Presse (AFP) likened the papacy of Saint John XXIII to Pope Francis. Pope John XXIII was elected to the papal throne on Oct. 28, 1958 at the age of 77.
He had a determined character, however, and led a process of modernization of the Church and closer ties with Judaism, inviting comparisons from Vatican watchers to the current reform-minded Pope Francis, the AFP reported.
“There is a spiritual and ideological continuity between John XXIII and Francis,” said Angelo Pansa, a historian specializing in John XXIII’s reign was quoted by AFP as saying.
Less than three months after being elected, John XXIII announced preparations for the Second Vatican Council, a global gathering of Catholic bishops, which opened in October 1962 and proved to be revolutionary.
“All the world is represented here tonight, even the moon hastens close to watch this spectacle.
When you head home, hug and kiss your children and tell them: ‘This is the hug and kiss of the pope’,” he said. /with reports from cbcpnews.com