Papal Preacher 'comes home' to Catholic charismatics in New Jersey

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Dale_M

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An interesting look at the man who provides spiritual guidance to the Pope and senior Vatican officials.
Pope Paul IV (1555-1559) created the office of “Apostolic Preacher,” meaning someone designated to preach for the pope and senior Vatican officials. Since 1743, the office has been reserved to the Capuchins, and since 1980, it’s been held by the 72-year-old Cantalamessa, a scripture scholar by training whose last name in Italian means “sing the Mass.”
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Though serving as Preacher of the Papal Household is certainly a privilege, it’s not really a full-time job. Cantalamessa is responsible for leading retreats for the pope and senior Vatican officials during Advent and Lent, as well as delivering the Good Friday homily in St. Peter’s Basilica. The rest of the time, Cantalamessa is, in effect, an itinerant preacher, moving around the globe in his simple brown Capuchin habit, clutching a tattered small blue copy of the New Jerusalem Bible.
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His Feb. 21 appearance at Seton Hall University was in some ways a homecoming for the Cantalamessa. It was in New Jersey in 1967 that Cantalamessa was first “baptized in the Spirit,” a key term in Charismatic Christianity for a decisive moment in which someone accepts Jesus Christ in a deeply personal way. Since then, Cantalamessa has gone on to become arguably the most prominent adherent of the Charismatic movement in the Catholic Church.
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ncrcafe.org/node/937
 
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