Bearded former punk band guitarist Father Giulio Vannucci and former policeman Father Michele Di Stefano flank Bishop Giovanni Nerbini following their June 8, 2024, ordination to the Catholic priesthood. / Credit: Diocese of Prato, Italy
ACI Prensa Staff, Jun 12, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
The Cathedral of Prato, Italy, was the setting last Saturday for the ordination of a former punk band guitarist and policeman.
Father Giulio Vanucci, who has long hair and a beard and who earlier in life was part of the group i Quanti, a local punk band, was ordained along with Father Michele Di Stefano, a former police officer, by the bishop of Prato, Giovanni Nerbini.
“The Lord has not chosen administrators or supermen but simple and always generous people,” Nerbini said in his homily at the ordination Mass.
Vanucci, 38, was born in the town of Pistoia. Of his punk band past, he told the Italian newspaper Avvenire it was “a period in which I had a lot of fun and that I do not regret.”
During the past eight years, Vanucci has worked as a bricklayer in a Catholic housing apostolate. “For me, being a priest means putting oneself even more at service, it means taking care of everything and everyone,” Vannucci said.
The other priest, Father Michele Di Stefano, 39, is a former police officer in the town of Bardonecchia. He completed his priestly formation in Florence.
“Today is not a goal achieved but rather the beginning of a new path, even an exhausting one,” Di Stefano said. “But I am sure that I am not alone and that I have God’s help. My intention is to be close to people who suffer, who feel alone,” said Di Stefano, who was accompanied by several policemen who were former colleagues of his.
In his homily prior to ordaining Father Guilio Vannucci and Father Michele Di Stefano, Bishop Giovanni Nerbini noted that “The Lord has not chosen administrators or supermen, but simple and always generous people.” Credit: Diocese of Prato
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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Pro-life supporters march in this year’s March for Life in Ottawa, Canada, May 9, 2024. / Credit: Peter Stockland
Ottawa, Canada, May 10, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).
Thousands of pro-lifers packed onto Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, and spilled out onto Wellington Street on May 9 for the 27th annual National March for Life.
The diverse crowd gathered on the Hill at noon with its members bearing both homemade and professionally crafted signs pledging them to stand fast for the unborn and vulnerable.
The march’s theme, “I Will Never Forget You” was taken from the prophet Isaiah’s poignant question: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast?”
Participants in the Ottawa, Canada, March for Life on May 9, 2024, sing the national anthem. Credit: Peter Stockland
The rally and march were broadcast live by the U.S. cable network EWTN. (Editor’s note: EWTN is the parent company of Catholic News Agency.)
This year’s speakers included pro-life speaker and author Abby Johnson, President of 40 Days for Life Shawn Carney, and Campaign Life Coalition Vice-Chair Jeff Gunnarson.
The opening prayer was led by Father Daniel Szwarc, OMI, who traveled to Ottawa from the Arctic Circle together with three young women engaged in pro-life activities in their small Inuit village of Naujaat.
Diana Kringayark told the crowd that every week she and the other women buy baby products to distribute to 40 village families to show that “every baby is important.”
Diana Kringayark shares about her pro-life ministry in Naujaat, Nunavut, at the Ottawa March for Life on May 9, 2024. Credit: Peter Stockland
Ottawa Archbishop Marcel Damphousse encouraged the marchers to act with “courage, compassion, and conviction.”
Conservative members of Parliament Cathay Wagantall and Arnold Viersen were the only federal politicians to address the crowd.
In her brief speech, Wagantall emphasized that advocating for the unborn and the vulnerable is particularly difficult for Canadian politicians. But she hailed the number of young people in the crowd as a sign of hope.
“If you think it is a battle out here, you know it is a battle in there,” the Saskatchewan member of Parliament said, indicating the Houses of Parliament behind her.
Angelina Steenstra of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign introduced Nathalia Comrie, a young woman who, at 17, was pregnant and felt that “abortion was the only choice my family would accept.” She said she was told that “everything would go back to normal after the abortion.”
Nathalia Comrie shares the story of her abortion and the support she received from Silent No More Awareness Campaign and the Sisters of Life at the Ottawa, Canada, March for Life on May 9, 2024. Credit: Peter Stockland
“That was a lie,” Comrie said. After years of depression and substance abuse, she was introduced to the Sisters of Life, and through them to other women who, like her, had suffered as the result of abortion.
“I will never forget my son Kaeden. He is why I am silent no more,” Comrie said.
In the crowd of clergy, habited religious sisters, elderly, schoolchildren, and loud teenagers were women who had found themselves, like Comrie, in situations where they felt pressured and alone.
Christa Ranson came to the March for Life from Montreal because she knew what it was to have considered abortion.
Thousands gather to hear opening speeches at the 27th annual National March for Life in Ottawa, Canada, on May 9, 2024. Credit: Peter Stockland
Ranson had been scheduled to undergo an abortion on two separate occasions. The first time she was actually on the table being prepped for the abortion when she decided not to go through with it. The second time, after hearing her son’s heartbeat by ultrasound, Ranson decided she “just couldn’t do it.”
Ranson said she now tells her son: “I loved you when you were just a heartbeat.”
When asked why it was important for her to come to the March for Life, she told Canada’s The Catholic Register that it was to let women know there is a choice other than abortion.
Thousands gather on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, for the 27th annual National March for Life on May 9, 2024. Credit: Peter Stockland
“What a lot of people don’t realize is that, when you are on that table, those babies are living, they have a heart, they have feelings.”
“I want other women to know that even if it is difficult, it will be okay and it is worth it. If women are making the decision because of health reasons, or financial reasons, they should reach out. There are resources out there, there are doctors out there who will help.”
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A 40 Days for Life prayer vigil. / Credit: 40 Days for Life
CNA Staff, Feb 14, 2024 / 17:25 pm (CNA).
The 40 Days for Life campaign is inviting others to join in 40 days of prayer during the Lenten season for an end to abortion starting today, … […]
1 Comment
It takes courage to answer a call. Hearty congratulations to Father Giulio Vannucci and to Father Michele Di Stefano. Wishing the two shepherds strength and stamina in their services to their flocks.
It takes courage to answer a call. Hearty congratulations to Father Giulio Vannucci and to Father Michele Di Stefano. Wishing the two shepherds strength and stamina in their services to their flocks.