Outgoing Papal Nuncio leaves with ‘heavy heart,’ asks for prayers

“Remember me in your prayers as I do for all of you,” outgoing Papal Nuncio Archbishop Gabriele Caccia said a little over a month before he embarks on his new assignment in the United States.

In a Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) News post, the Papal envoy said, he is leaving the country, two years after he started his stint here, with a heavy heart.

“I don’t think I will find anywhere in the world people as friendly, as smiling, as open, as affectionate, and as devoted as here in the Philippines,” Caccia said during a fellowship dinner with the clergy, the religious, and the seminarians of the Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princesa in Palawan.

The Apostolic Nuncio was in Palawan to celebrate the mass for the vicariate’s annual “Bugsayan,” the vicariate’s largest gathering of the members of the clergy and laypeople from 32 parishes.

“I am asking for your continued prayers as I embark on a new mission,” he said.

The Holy Father Pope Francis on Nov. 16 appointed Caccia as the new Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York. He will assume his new post on Jan. 16, 2020. He succeeds Filipino Archbishop Bernardito Auza, who on Oct. 1, was named by the Pope as Apostolic Nuncio to Spain and Andorra.

Caccia, 61, was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines on Sept. 12, 2017, and has endeared himself to the faithful as he made pastoral visits to different archdioceses and dioceses around the country. He facilitated the appointment of several new bishops bringing down the number of vacant dioceses from 11 to four since he arrived in Manila in November 2017.

Divine Infancy Month

Meanwhile, Roman Catholics traditionally celebrate the month of December as Divine Infancy Month in honor of the Infant Jesus, “the center of all preparations and celebrations during the Christmas Season.”

“Festivities and all forms of celebration should focus on honoring, glorifying, and adoring Jesus in His Divine Childhood,” Church officials stressed.

The Church encourages the faithful to pray the novena to the Infant Jesus, to reflect, offer sacrifices and do charity work, do penance and almsgiving, and to remember the promise of His Divine Infancy, “The more you honor Me, the more I will bless you.”

Devotion to the Infant Jesus began in the small town of Bethlehem, where the shepherds and the Three Wise Men paid homage to the newborn Holy Child lying in the manger.

The observance also highlights the significance of the Nativity Scene or “Belen,” a reminder that “Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, is the core of man’s salvation.”