CHICLAYO AGAIN

 

 

Once again the unknown (outside of Peru) city of CHICLAYO is in the news. It is not because of the Holy Father, who was bishop there from 2015 to 2023, when he was called to Rome.

Because Chiclayo, on Peru’s northern coast, is located in a typically warm region, it has been chosen to host the international solemn celebration of the 34th World Day of the Sick, which will take place there Feb. 9–11.

 In February, during the Southern Hemisphere summer, temperatures can range from 66 to 86 degrees. Both times I was there, it never got too hot for me (November/December).

Cardinal Michael Czerny explained the reasons for choosing the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace in Chiclayo: “We needed a place where, given the climate in February, it would be less likely that the celebration would be affected by bad weather,”

Needless to say, the Holy Father was most pleased with this choice, as the Peruvian people are dear to his heart. Cardinal Czerny will attend as the pope’s envoy and prays the World Day of the Sick observance will reflect both the spiritual dimension of care for the ill and the active participation of the entire local community.

 The Vatican prefect added that during the celebration in Chiclayo — which he said he— it will be possible to perceive “the importance of the theme of compassion and care for the sick, combined with the joy that the pope comes from this region.”

The World Day of the Sick is an awareness day, or observance, in the Church intended for "prayer and sharing, of offering one's suffering for the good of the Church and of reminding everyone to see in his sick brother or sister the face of Christ". The day was instituted on 13 May 1992 by Pope St. John Paul II and is celebrated on 11 February,  the feast of Our Ladyof Lourdes.

Cardinal Michael Felix Czerny, CMG SJ is a Czech-born Canadian Catholic prelate who has served as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development since 2022. After a career spanning Canada, El Salvador, Africa, and Rome, and after founding the African Jesuit AIDS Network, he started working at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in 2010.

In 2016, he became the undersecretary of the migrants and refugees section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Pope Francis named Michael Czerny a cardinal in 2019 and prefect of the dicastery in 2022.