Editor’s note: The following homily by Pope Francis’ highest ranking ambassador to the United States Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano was given in Anchorage on Dec. 12 during the elevation of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church to the status of co-cathedral for the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church was elevated to co-cathedral status Dec. 12 in a Mass featuring many ethnic cultural celebrations and attended by Alaska’s four bishops and Vatican ambassador, Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano. More than 700 people packed the largest Catholic church in Alaska and one of the state’s most ethnically diverse parishes. Several attended in traditional cultural costumes, Peruvian, Filipino, Mexican, Columbian, Samoan and Alaska Native peoples and several took part in the liturgy.
Bishop-elect Chad Zielinski will become the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Fairbanks on Dec. 15. Eight Archbishops and bishops will participate in the ordination Mass scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks. The Mass, celebrated by Anchorage Archbishop Roger L. Schwietz, will both ordain Bishop-elect Zielinski as a bishop and install him as the head of the Fairbanks diocese. More than one thousand people are expected to attend.