During the first month of the year 2023, we had the joy of celebrating five ordinations of former students, four of them to the priesthood and one to the diaconate.
On 6 January, João Henrique Funari and Pedro Paulo Pereira were ordained priests by their Ordinary, Cardinal Dom Odilo Pedro Scherer, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of São Paulo. The two received their priestly formation at Sedes Sapientiae from 2017 to 2022. The celebration took place in the parish of Our Lady of Brazil, in Giardino America, the candidates' home community. The two new priests join the diocesan clergy of São Paulo, to work at the service of the more than five million Catholic faithful living in this populous Brazilian city. Read more information in Portuguese here.
The following day, 7 January, Jinson Earnest was ordained to the priesthood in the diocese of Quilon (India). Jinson was at the Sedes from 2019 to 2022, sent by this Latin-rite diocese in Kerala, which has 215,000 Catholics, eight percent of the population.
And from India, we move on to Venezuela. It is in this South American country that the last two ordinations we are going to review took place. On 14 January, Alejandro Rangel was ordained a priest on the Caribbean paradise island of Margarita. He received his formation at Sedes Sapientiae from 2016 to 2021. This Venezuelan diocese, whose bishop is Mgr Fernando Castro, has more than 400,000 faithful.
The following day, Jhoan Zambrano, a student of Sedes Sapientiae from 2019 to 2022, was ordained deacon in San Cristóbal. He was ordained by the auxiliary bishop of the diocese, Mons. Alberto Ayala, who during the homily encouraged him to continue to be "the close, grateful and helpful brother who knows how to love and serve without anything in return".
We offer our warmest congratulations to all the newly ordained, and pray for the fruit of their ministry in the service of the Church.