Vatican City. Today, October 20, 2024, on World Mission Sunday, Joseph Allamano is officially a saint. The proclamation mass, in St. Peter’s Square, was very solemn, with very many people attending it.
By Marco Bello
Since seven o’clock in the morning, before daylight, long queues of pilgrims have been waiting at the police checkpoints to enter Saint Peter’s square. The pilgrims who came for the canonisation of Joseph Allamano came the day before from the four continents.
Dozens of languages could be heard in the queue: Portuguese, Spanish, French, English, Italian, Kiswahili. Asia too, is present, pilgrims from Korea, Mongolia and Taiwan.
The image of the future saint is hoisted on high, in its colourful pop-art like version, very visible among the sea of heads.
They distinguish themselves by the scarf they wear, white with the 35 flags of the countries where the Consolata missionaries work, and with the images of Allamano and Our Lady Consolata. The organization also provided everyone with a green badge with the logo designed specifically for this day.
Besides Allamano other saints are canonized: Elena Guerra, Marie-Léonie Paradis and the eleven martyrs of Damascus (Manuel Ruiz and companions).
We are among the first to enter, after the metal detectors checkpoint. The stalls in front of the steps of St. Peter’s are partially filled.
The pilgrims are sleepy, but one can see their joy and excitement. Many greet each other, others hug each other, some meet again after several years, or meet for the first time as if they had known each other for many years, and immediately getting on well.
Meanwhile, the day has broken. It is cloudy, but not raining.
Taking advantage of the waiting time, we take photos, videos, exchange a contact or a smile. We see a large delegation from Uganda, then the flag of Kenya (the first mission country of the Consolata Missionaries). Congo DRC is present, as well as the Ivory Coast.
At a certain point the flag of Morocco appears: it is the group from Oujda, which also includes some sub-Saharan migrants. We also see the group of the Consolata lay people from Portugal, with their 25th year anniversary t-shirts, and many others like Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Uganda, Mozambique….. And then many nuns, of various ages and nationalities. Soon half of the square is filled.
Meanwhile, cardinals, bishops and priests are placed to the left side of the altar. To the right, instead, authorities and diplomats.
After the rosary in Latin, a ringing of bells begins, then the official choir sings some songs broadcasted through the powerful loudspeakers throughout the square. The waiting becomes more intense among the thousands of people from all over the world, a cross-section of humanity.
At 10:20, almost suddenly, Pope Francis arrives in his wheelchair and sits on the papal chair. Softly, almost in a low voice, a group of pilgrims, on the right side of the audience, chant: «Pope Francis, Pope Francis». Other groups start the same, it is as if the choir moves around the space in front of the basilica, and meanwhile it turns into “Papa Francisco”, and it culminates with a great applause. Meanwhile a faint sun appeared. We can clearly see President Sergio Mattarella, in the front row of the authorities.
The celebration begins. Brief biographies of the new saints are read. When Joseph Allamano is mentioned, an applause starts from the square.
“It is not he who dominates who wins, but he who serves out of love,” says the Pope in his homily, commenting on the Gospel of the day.
“Jesus reveals the thoughts in our hearts, sometimes unmasking our desires for vanity and power.”
Then he teaches us “God’s style” that is “service.” The Pope’s magic words are: “Closeness, compassion, and tenderness, applied to the action of serving. […] This is what we must yearn for.”
A style born out of love that has no deadline or limit. Continues the Pope: «The new saints lived this style of Jesus: service».
In his Angelus’ message, Pope Francis draws the attention to indigenous peoples: “The testimony of Saint Joseph Allamano reminds us of the necessary attention to the most fragile and vulnerable populations. I am thinking in particular of the Yanomami people, in the Brazilian Amazon forest, among whose members the miracle linked to his canonization occurred. I appeal to the political and civil authorities to ensure the protection of these peoples and their fundamental rights and against any form of exploitation of their dignity and their land”. The name “Yanomami”, therefore, resounds in Saint Peter’s Square, precisely thanks to the new Saint.
Pope Francis concludes by greeting the cardinals in his wheelchair, and then climbs into the pope-mobile to greet the people present in Sant Peter’s square. As he goes around, the pilgrims and faithful leave their chairs to approach the wooden barriers delimiting the various sections of the square to greet him.
Once he got passed, the slow outflow of several thousand people begins, while groups of various nationalities and languages take their last photos in the square, with the backdrop of St. Peter’s Basilica, where the banner of St. Giuseppe Allamano stands out.
* Marco Bello, Missioni Consolata magazine.
Holy Mass with Canonization and Angelus Prayer
