Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Encouragement for Dominicans

Pope Francis has sent a telegram to the Master General of the Order of Preachers – the Dominicans – who are currently holding the General Chapter of Priors Provincial in the central Italian city of Bologna. The General Chapter of Priors General is the second of three specific kinds of General Chapters, each being held at three-year intervals for a 9-year cycle that ends with the election of a new Master General. The sequence begins with General Chapter of delegates – called diffinitors in Dominican parlance; then the General Chapter of Priors Provincial; and then, the Elective General Chapter.

This General Chapter of Priors Provincial is taking place in the context of the 800th anniversary of the confirmation of the Order under Pope Honorius III, and in the middle of the Jubilee Year of Mercy.


Telegram of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
addressed to the Order of Preachers
on the occasion of their
General Chapter of Priors Provincial

R. Bruno Cadore, OP
Master General
Order of Preachers
Convento Santa Sabina
Piazza Pietro D'Illiria, 1
00153 Roma

On the occasion of the General Chapter of the Priors Provincial of the Order of Preachers, taking place in Bologna, in the context of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy and of the eight hundredth anniversary of the confirmation of the Order by Pope Honorius III, His Holiness, Pope Francis, in sending his cordial and good wishes, invokes the gifts of the Holy Spirit, recalling that mercy is the pillar that supports the life of the Church.

All of its pastoral action must be embraced by tenderness and nothing of its proclamation or witness before the world can be without mercy.  The credibility of the Church comes through the path of merciful and compassionate love which gives new life and the courage to look to the future with hope. 

The Holy Father wishes that all who follow the charism of Saint Dominic - tireless Apostle of grace and forgiveness, compassionate towards the poor and an ardent defender of truth - should testify to mercy, professing it and embodying it in life, and should be signs of the nearness and tenderness of God, so that society today might rediscover the urgency of solidarity, love and forgiveness.

While requesting your prayers to support his Petrine ministry, he, through the intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary and of all the saints of the Dominican family, imparts to you, as well as to all the Capitular Friars, the requested Apostolic blessing, extending it gladly to the entire Order.

From the Vatican
15 July 2016

Cardinal Pietro Parolin
Secretary of State of the Holy Father

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