COMMENTARY: To be ordained a deacon on the feast of St. Francis 25 years ago seemed an unintended blessing for a Church that would soon find itself in need of repair.
Twenty-five years ago this past Sunday, 40 of us from the Pontifical North American College in Rome were ordained deacons in St. Peter’s Basilica. It was the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. In our yearlong spiritual preparation, St. Francis had a prominent place — he remains the most famous deacon in the history of the Church.
I don’t think that any of us were aware that it was the 775th anniversary of his death that year. But it means that our 25th anniversary is the 800th for the transitus of Francis, and there have been celebrations in Assisi and all over the world throughout the year. Pope Leo XIV has declared a special “Franciscan” jubilee for the occasion.
Our ordination took place between two epoch-changing events. The first, just weeks before our ordination, was 9/11. It brought George Bush the Elder to the Vatican the same day that we were ordained. The second, just months later, was the eruption of the sexual abuse crisis, first in Boston in
