Pope Francis names Bishop Baldacchino to lead Las Cruces diocese

May 15, 2019 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

Vatican City, May 15, 2019 / 04:03 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Wednesday appointed Bishop Peter Baldacchino to head the Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico – making him the first diocesan bishop associated with the Neocatechumenal Way to serve in a mainland U.S. diocese.

Baldacchino, 58, has been an auxiliary bishop of Miami, Florida, since 2014. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark in 1996.

As a seminarian in Newark, Baldacchino studied at the Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University but lived at the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary.

Baldacchino’s formation was in part guided by the Neocatechumenal Way, a post-baptismal itinerary of Christian formation first approved by Pope Paul VI and supported by each of the subsequent popes.

Seminarians who discern their vocation while involved with the Neocatechumenal Way are encouraged to place special emphasis on the universal missionary character of the priesthood and offer themselves, at the discretion of their local bishop, in service to the New Evangelization anywhere in the world.

Baldacchino is the first graduate of a Redemptoris Mater seminary to serve as a diocesan bishop in a mainland U.S. diocese.

He was born on the European island country of Malta, to a family of four children. His family joined the Neocatechumenal Way while he was a child, but he was not initially drawn to the priesthood.

After studying science and chemistry at the University of Malta, he began working as a technical manager at a bottling plant. At age 28 he attended the 1989 World Youth Day in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, after which he became more involved in the Neocatechumenal Way.

Through the movement he was sent on mission, during which he started to feel called to the priesthood, eventually being matched with the Redemptoris Mater seminary in Newark. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark on May 25, 1996.

Baldacchino served for over a decade as a missionary in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean, and speaks Maltese, English, Italian, Creole, and Spanish.

The Diocese of Las Cruces was established in 1982. According to 2015 estimates, it has more than 236,600 Catholics, accounting for just over 42% of the area's population.

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At Mass for Migrants and Refugees, Pope Francis says world is increasingly more elitist

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Vatican City, Sep 29, 2019 / 06:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis celebrated Mass for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees Sunday with a message that the world is becoming more elitist to the detriment of the poor and the most vulnerable.

“Today’s world is increasingly becoming more elitist and cruel. Developing countries continue to be drained of their best natural and human resources for the benefit of a few privileged markets. Wars only affect some regions of the world, yet weapons of war are produced and sold in other regions which are then unwilling to take in the refugees generated by these conflicts,” Pope Francis said in his homily in St. Peter’s Square Sept. 29.

The pope said that those who pay the price are always “the little ones, the poor, the most vulnerable, who are prevented from sitting at the table and are left with the ‘crumbs’ of the banquet.”

“As Christians, we cannot be indifferent to the tragedy of old and new forms of poverty, to the bleak isolation, contempt and discrimination experienced by those who do not belong to ‘our’ group,” Pope Francis said.

The Lord calls us to practice charity toward all those in existential peripheries, who together with migrants and refugees, are the victims of “the throwaway culture,” he said.

“Loving our neighbor means feeling compassion for the sufferings of our brothers and sisters, drawing close to them, touching their sores and sharing their stories, and thus manifesting concretely God’s tender love for them. This means being a neighbor to all those who are mistreated and abandoned on the streets of our world, soothing their wounds and bringing them to the nearest shelter, where their needs can be met,” Pope Francis explained.

“Along with the exercise of charity, the Lord also invites us to think about the injustices that cause exclusion – and in particular the privileges of the few, who, in order to preserve their status, act to the detriment of the many,” he said.

In his Angelus address immediately following the Mass, Pope Francis unveiled a new bronze sculpture in St. Peter’s Square called “Angels Unawares.” The sculpture by Canadian artist Timothy Schmaltz depicts migrants and refugees throughout history huddled together on a raft.

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“The Lord has a particular concern for foreigners, widows and orphans, for they are without rights, excluded and marginalized,” he said in his homily. “We must pay special attention to the strangers in our midst as well as to widows, orphans and all the outcasts of our time.”

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