Vatican City, Aug 10, 2012 / 12:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Commemorating the 34th anniversary of the death of Pope Paul VI, retired Archbishop of Milan Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi said he hopes to see the late pontiff raised to the altars soon.
“I trust and greatly desire that soon – and I am sure than many, everyone, shares this – the Church can venerate Paul VI as blessed,” he said during an Aug. 6 Mass at St. Peter's Basilica.
“This desire is ignited every time I read his writings and I think of his service of love to the Church and to humanity,” the cardinal notied, according to the SIR news agency.
The healing of an unborn child could be the miracle that paves the way for Pope Montini’s beatification, which would coincide with the Year of Faith decreed by Pope Benedict XVI to mark the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council.
Paul VI decreed a Year of Faith in 1967 as well, in order to the mark 19 centuries since the martyrdom of Sts. Peter and Paul. It ended in June of 1968 with the publication of the “Credo of the People of God,” an in-depth reflection on the Nicean Creed.
During his remarks, Cardinal Tettamanzi also recalled the death of Paul VI at Castel Gandolfo on Aug. 6, 1978, the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
“We know that Pope Montini greatly loved the solemnity of the liturgy on the Transfiguration of the Lord: he experienced it as a moment of great and profound spirituality.”
A group of faithful from Paul VI’s hometown of Brescia in Italy attended the Aug. 6 Mass celebrated by the cardinal.
Pope Paul VI is one of my favorite saints to be, because without his inspiration and Vatican II, I would not be an ordained Permanent Deacon. I stood next to him and Cardinal Spellman on the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral:
I also went to the Mass he celebrated at Yankee Stadium and received a memento holy card with his autograph on it, which I still have and cherish.
I think that was the start of my conversion and return to the practice of my Catholic Faith. Nice memories!
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