Mass at the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour: A fitting conclusion to our pilgrimage

Hello everybody. I hope this Monday is going very well for you. Rome continues to be white with the snow that fell mostly on Saturday. Though it is melting, it’s not melting fast.

Today in the afternoon we had the last official celebration of our Ad limina pilgrimage with the bishops of Ohio and Michigan, along with the priests and seminarians from our diocese who are studying here in Rome, at Mass at the Lateran Basilica. The formal title for that is the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour because it is the Holy Father’s cathedral. As I was offering Mass I thought this was a great way to consummate, bring to a fitting conclusion, our pilgrimage. And I’ve made it very much my prayer to ask the Lord to bless the Holy Father in his ministry for the priests and the people of the Diocese of Rome and I’m sure he very much has all of us in the Archdiocese of Detroit in his prayer.

This morning we were able to get to at least one of the offices that had been cancelled because of the snow the other day. We were at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and we worked very hard to be sure that we were there because we bishops from Ohio and Michigan wanted to talk about the cause of Father Solanus and the cause of Bishop Baraga. And we received very good encouragement that these processes are moving forward. The cardinal prefect encouraged all of us bishops to encourage all of you to continue to pray to Bishop Baraga and pray to Father Solanus to ask God that, through their intercession, he will give his signs, the signs they look for here in Rome, to indicate these men are indeed holy and with God in interceding for us.

So I look forward to being back in Detroit and I’m very grateful for the prayers you’ve all offered in support of me and my brother bishops and the Holy Father during this week of pilgrimage.

God bless.