Pope Francis’ program during the 2013 Rio World Youth Day
reportedly will include a visit to the parish of Varginha, located in the favela of Manguinhos, one of the poorest of Rio.
While there, the Holy Father will lead a prayer in the
parish of Saint Jerome Emilian, where he will bless the new altar. He will also spend some time talking with the
leaders of the community and its inhabitants. He will walk on a street in Varginha to a soccer field where there
will be a stage from which he will address a few words to the slum-dwellers.
There will not be any special security fences, and if the Pope so wishes, he
will be able to go into some of the homes.
The visit is planned for July 25 in the morning. This was
made known on Saturday, May 18, by Archbishop
Orani João Tempesta of Rio de Janeiro, who presided over a Mass at the
parish there.
While José Carlos
Chagas street, where the Pope will walk, is transformed into a 'red carpet,'
with new asphalt and drains, the neighboring favelas await a grace from the
public power, states a local newspaper with the headline Miracle of the Pope in Manguinhos.
Inés San Martín, director of the WYD International Press
Office, said that the street on which the
Pope will walk is yet to be confirmed. We haven’t issued any communique in this
respect, but it is true that they have already begun work in Manguinhos, where
it is to be supposed the Holy Father will pass. She added that during his
stay in Rio the Pope will also inaugurate a wing of Saint Francis Hospital, in
the Tijuca neighborhood, for
treatment of drug addicts.
It is a joy and a
responsibility to show how much the Church is alive and working silently in the
communities, so that we can fulfill the mission that the Lord entrusted to us,
said the local parish priest, Father Marcio Queiroz, in statements published on
the WYD Web page. He pointed out that the community will show the Pope
the reality: It makes no sense to create
some sort of makeup. The simplicity you are seeing is the one we are going to
show him. This is the face of this parish.
The Archbishop of Rio said that the most important thing
will be the social legacy that will remain for the people. The process of
selection of the community was complex, explained Archbishop Tempesta. The
ministry team of the favelas presented a list of more than 750 parishes. Then
the local WYD organizing committee, the government of Rio and the Vatican
looked for a place that is at peace, which was not visited by John Paul II.
It would be very good
if the Pope could go to all the favelas. What is being done awakens in people
the desire to improve their life, Archbishop Tempesta explained.
The pacified favelas are the ones where drug trafficking has
been contained, with a heavy intervention of the Brazilian army and police,
which included tanks. Today the police’s pacification
units patrol 13 favelas some of which were impenetrable, and they are part
of a national security plan.
The chapel of Saint Jerome Emilian stemmed from a desire of
the Somaschi Fathers to evangelize a needy community, from the social and
spiritual point of view. The priests of the Order of Saint Jerome Emilian
arrived from Italy on mission to build a House of the Order.
Passing through the Varginha
favela they found a desire for God in its dwellers. They took part in the
Masses of another community, Saint Daniel, also located in Manguinhos. It was then that the Somascchi Fathers built the
church, which was inaugurated in 1971, with the presence of the then Archbishop
of Rio de Janeiro, Father Eugenio Salles.
On her visit to Brazil in 1972, Mother Teresa walked through
the streets of the community and visited some houses. After that, the community
opened a space so that the Missionaries of Charity could carry out their works,
such as the catechesis of children and visits to families.
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