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PortuguêsChiara Luce Badano proclaimed a Blessed!
The Beatification Ceremony for Chiara Luce Badano was held today at the Shrine of Our Lady of Divine Love. The profound and joyous celebration was presided by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Monsignor Angelo Amato, representing Pope Benedict XVI.
Around 25,000 people participated in the Solemn Mass, mainly young people from 57 countries. Because of large screens put up around the shrine, many were able to follow the proceedings seated on the grass area outside.
Maria Voce, President of the Focolare Movement, gave a message of thanksgiving at the conclusion of the ceremony (reported below):
The celebrations, however, didn’t end here because the weekend-long program includes events particularly geared towards young people with the participation also of Chiara’s parents, Ruggero and Maria Teresa Badano, something quite rare and unique, and possible only because of Chiara’s young age and the brief duration of the cause for beatification.
On Saturday night, the Vatican hosted a festival of music and personal experiences at Paul VI Audience Hall. Thousands participated, not just inside the audience hall, but also outside in St Peter’s Square where the evening’s program could be followed through large screens. On Sunday morning, at 10.30, the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone will celebrate a Thanksgiving Mass in the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls. At the midday Angelus, the Pope will greet the participants through a linkup from his residence in Castelgandolfo. The entire weekend events have been transmitted via television and Internet in many countries around the world.
Maria Voce’s address at the Solemn Mass, 25 September:
“First of all, on behalf of the Focolare Movement, represented here by people from all over the world, I thank Bishop Amato who has presided over this solemn and moving Mass in the Pope’s name. I thank and greet all religious and civil authorities, all the people present in this shrine and the field surrounding it, and also all those who are following this moment through the media. A special thanks to the technicians who made it possible to give this event a planetary dimension.
I am deeply moved to see the splendid, luminous plan of God fulfilled by this 18-year-old girl, revealed gradually to her and then to all of us; to see it recognized today by the Church, as the first mature fruit of our Movement. It is a historical moment, a confirmation by the Church that the spirituality of unity lived out can bring us to holiness.
We have such a gratitude to God for the Charism that he sent down on earth through Chiara Lubich, and we have such a joy in our hearts for this gift that the Church is giving us today! They must be celebrating in heaven too!
This moment signifies a new commitment. Chiara Luce is urging us to go forward, in fact, to ‘run’ on the road to holiness. May her shining example be of light for as many people as possible, and may it touch many, many others.”
