TRUE PEACE, THE FRUIT OF CHRIST'S VICTORY OVER EVIL

VATICAN CITY, MAY 16, 2004 (VIS) - This morning the Pope celebrated the Eucharist in St. Peter's Square and, in the presence of 50,000 people, canonized Blesseds Luigi Orione, Hannibal Maria di Francia, Josep Manyanet y Vives, Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini, Paola Elisabetta Cerioli and Gianna Beretta Molla.

  In his homily, the Holy Father said that "true peace is the fruit of Christ's victory over the power of evil, sin and death. Those who follow Him faithfully become witnesses and builders of peace."

  Referring to Luigi Orione, founder of the Little Work of Divine Providence and of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of  Charity, John Paul II said that "he was a man completely devoted to the cause of Christ and His kingdom. Physical and moral suffering, fatigue, difficulties and obstacles of every type characterized his apostolic ministry. ... Christ's passion was the soul of his courageous life, the interior impulse of his tireless altruism, the ever-fresh source of an indestructible hope."

  Speaking about Hannibal Maria Di Francia, he said "he left the Rogationist Fathers and the Daughters of Divine Zeal the task of devoting themselves with all their strength so that prayer for vocations would be 'incessant and universal.'  Fr. Hannibal Maria Di Francia issued this same invitation to the young people of our age, summing it up in the exhortation: 'Fall in love with Jesus Christ'.  Through this great providential intuition a great movement of prayer for vocations began in the Church."

  St. Josep Manyanet, "true apostle of the family," said the Pope, "inspired by the school of Nazareth, realized his project of personal holiness and dedicated himself, with heroic abandonment, to the mission that the Spirit entrusted to him. As a result, he founded two religious congregations," the Sons of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the Missionary Daughters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. "A visible symbol of his apostolic zeal is also the Church of the Holy Family in Barcelona."  Speaking in Catalan, John Paul II prayed that the new saint "would bless all families and help all to bring the examples of the Holy Family to your homes."

  Referring to St. Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini, a priest of the Lebanese Maronite Order, the Pope said that he "was a man of prayer, in love with the Eucharist. ... He gave himself completely to the Lord in a life of great sacrifice, demonstrating that love of God is the only true source of joy and well-being for man."

  "Contemplating the Holy Family, St. Paola Elisabetta Cerioli, religious and foundress of the Institute of the Religious of the Holy Family and the Congregation of the Holy Family of Bergamo, understood that families are solid when family ties are sustained and cemented by sharing the values of faith and Christian culture."

  John Paul II concluded by speaking about Gianna Beretta Molla, mother and wife, whose 92 year-old husband was present. "The extreme sacrifice that sealed her life is a testimony as only a person who has the courage to give themselves completely to God and to their brothers and sisters can make. May our age discover once again through the example of Gianna Beretta Molla, the pure, chaste and fruitful beauty of conjugal love, lived as a response to the divine call!"

  After the Mass and before reciting the Regina Coeli, the Pope greeted the civil and religious authorities of the countries of the six new saints - Lebanon, Spain and Italy - and all the pilgrims who attended the canonization.
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