Annual Visit to Rome by CCCB Delegation

Saturday, November 10 2012

Visite_annuelle_CECC__Rome-2(CCCB-Ottawa)…A delegation from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) is in Rome, November 7 to 18, 2012, for the annual meetings with officials from the Holy See. The members of the delegation are the CCCB President, the Most Reverend Richard Smith, Archbishop of Edmonton, and the CCCB Vice President, the Most Reverend Paul-André Durocher, Archbishop of Gatineau. Today, the two Archbishops were received by the Holy Father in a private audience.

While in Rome, they will meet with more than a dozen dicasteries of the Holy See, the offices of the Curia which assist the Holy Father in the governance of the universal Catholic Church. The meetings include the Secretariat of State, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Congregation for Bishops, Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Congregation for Catholic Education, Congregation for Clergy, Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Pontifical Council for Culture, and the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”.

Visit marked by the canonization of Saint Kateri

During the audience with the Holy Father, the CCCB President presented him a framed reproduction of the front page of the primary source document in the cause for the canonization of Saint Kateri. The reproduction had been specially framed by the Vatican Museum. Archbishop Smith also gave Pope Benedict XVI a DVD of the new Salt + Light TV documentary, In Her Footsteps: The Story of Kateri Tekakwitha.  The documentary officially premiered in Rome, October 20, as part of the vigil in preparation for her canonization on October 21. About 1500 Canadian pilgrims were present, including a number of Canadian Bishops. The gifts were presented by the CCCB President and Vice President to the Holy Father as a sign of the Conference’s deep appreciation for the canonization of the first Indigenous woman from North America.

(Photo: Courtesy of  Photographic Service / L’Osservatore Romano)