The Holy See's man in Canada

One of the best articles about our beloved Apostolic Nuncio yet. And so true. We will miss you, Archbishop Ventura!

Fr. Raymond de Souza writes:

Archbishop Ventura, a rising star in the diplomatic corps, was sent to Canada in 2001 from his previous assignment in Chile. In the Catholic world, Canada would not be as prestigious as Chile, a Catholic country where the nuncio is also accorded the honour of being dean of the diplomatic corps.

So why did Canada get Ventura, plucked out of Chile after just two years and sent to the frozen north?

He was sent to Canada after concern emerged in Rome in the late 1990s that the Church in Canada was adrift, losing her confidence and evangelical zeal. The most senior cardinals in Rome convened to figure out what to do about Canada. The remedy was in part the papal visit for World Youth Day in Toronto in 2002. Ventura was sent as well, to ensure that the momentum of that papal visit was not dissipated.

Since his arrival in 2001, Ventura has recommended the appointments of new archbishops in Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa, Quebec City, Moncton, Halifax and St. John's. He has been the architect of the renewal of the Canadian episcopate. The new spirit of Catholic confidence and evangelization evident across the country is due in large part to that renewal. Indeed, so effective has Ventura been in Canada that he departs Ottawa for Paris, one of the most senior diplomatic posts in the Church, and normally given to a man on his way to being created a cardinal.

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He is an Italian member of the oldest diplomatic corps in the world, but he has shown himself better than most at preaching the Gospel to 21st century Canada.

I remember watching him in Kingston, Ontario, after the installation of Archbishop Brendan O'Brien there. Archbishop Ventura stood at the head of the centre aisle and handed out the Blessed Sacrament to the hundreds who filed up to receive.

He was present to each person, with joy and love in his greeting. The words in persona Christi in relation to the priesthood came alive for me, embodied that day in His Grace.

What beautiful things the Holy Spirit has done through him in the Catholic Church during his eight years in Canada.

In the picture taken at the recent plenary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Ventura is on the left, standing with the new president of the Conference, Saint-Jerome Bishop Pierre Morissette