Bishop Carrasco: "Service is your new identity"

31 faithful of Opus Dei were ordained deacons at the hands of Bishop Ignacio Carrasco, in the Basilica of Saint Eugene (Rome). The future priests will receive their priestly ordination on May 5, 2018.

The new deacons come from 15 different countries: Spain, Italy, Venezuela, Nigeria, Argentina, Kenya, Philippines, France, Uruguay, Slovakia, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Brazil, Colombia, and Holland. Their priestly ordination on May 5th will be transmitted live via internet on this website.

Bishop Ignacio Carrasco, president emeritus of the Pontifical Academy for Life, focused his homily on the word “service,” a word that characterizes the tasks specifically entrusted to deacons: “In the native language of Jesus of Nazareth, in the language of his Mother, Mary, and his relatives, friends and neighbors, the transitive verb ‘to serve’ didn’t indicate something to be proud of. It was the word that defined the servant, the slave, to whom fell the lowest tasks, including the most unpleasant; it was the person who held the lowest place in every kind of classification that men make up for themselves.”

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The Prelate of Opus Dei, Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz, participated in the ceremony from the presbytery.

“Nevertheless," continued Bishop Carrasco, "this same word was the one chosen by the apostles for their seven initial collaborators that Saint Luke speaks of in the Acts of the Apostles: ‘Pick out from among you seven men of good repute, filled with the Spirit and wisdom’ (Acts 6:3).” Speaking directly to the candidates for ordination, Bishop Carrasco told them, “You will assume this new identity within a few minutes after the laying on of hands.”

The Prelate of Opus Dei, Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz, participated in the ceremony from the presbytery, together with the vicar general, Monsigno Mariano Fazio, and the vicar secretary, Monsignor Antoni Pujals. Many family members and friends of the future priests also attended the ceremony.

Here is the list of the new deacons:

- Pablo González-Villalobos Bérgamo (Spain)

- Francisco Javier Fernández Centeno (Spain)

- Agustín Alfredo Silberberg Muiño (Argentina)

- Alejandro Gratacós Casacuberta (Spain)

- Juan José Velasco Fernández (Spain)

- Antonio Vargas-Machuca Salido (Spain)

- Francis Anthony Jose Inzon Ong III (Philippines)

- Francisco Felipe Nieto López (Spain)

- Gonzalo Trelles Villanueva (Spain)

- Juan Suárez-Lledó Grande (Spain)

- Ignacio María Varela Vega (Uruguay)

- Luis Poveda Talavera (Spain)

- Manuel Ignacio Candela Temes (Spain)

- Alberto de Ángel Castel (Spain)

- Michele Crosa di Vergagni (Italy)

- Jorge Segarra Taús (Spain)

- Àngel Miquel Aymar (Slovakia)

- Jude Kasirima Karuhanga (Uganda)

- Pedro Emeka Okafor (Nigeria)

- Alfred Robert Cruz Vergara (Philippines)

- Pierre Laffon de Mazières (France)

- Frederick Vincent Ifechukwude Oraegbu (Nigeria)

- Yao N'zian Jean Eudes Téhia (Ivory Coast)

- Raphael Rezende Fernandes (Brazil)

- Anthony Elobuike Asogwa (Nigeria)

- Martijn Sebastian Pouw (Holland)

- Ignacio Ramoneda Pérez del Pulgar (Spain)

- Alberto José Ospina Sánchez (Colombia)

- José Guillermo Muñoz Maldonado (Colombia)

- Donatus Dedan Wainaina (Kenya)

- Manuel Alejandro Vielma Alvarado (Venezuela)