The people of Cartagena live this Friday their big day in honor of the Patron Saint with intensity from early in the morning. Bustle in the streets, bars, restaurants and museums that invite you to live the beginning of eleven days of passion, which started with the Socorro procession at dawn on Friday of Dolores. The festive atmosphere of the first year without restrictions after the pandemic and the devotion to Charity fill the basilica with the faithful throughout the day to accompany the mother of Cartagena.
This year, the control measures were imposed by the Santo y Real Hospital de Caridad, which limited the capacity at the Mass in honor of the Patron Saint to 120 seated people. The rest could be done through a giant screen in La Serreta. Although the public gathered in this emblematic street in the historic center has nothing to do with the one that met decades ago.
The Eucharist in which the mayoress of Cartagena, Noelia Arroyo, complied with the tradition of offering the Ounce of Gold, was presided over by the bishop, José Manuel Lorca Planes. He was accompanied by the archbishop emeritus of Burgos, resident in the diocese of Cartagena, Francisco Gil Hellín, and the vicar general of the diocese, Juan Tudela.
“Love Is in the Works”
In his homily, Lorca Planes asked the Virgin of Charity for the elderly and children, as well as for the sick, “especially those cared for by the Holy and Royal Hospital of Charity, so that we know how to accompany them faithfully and be a balm for their sorrows, as was the Virgin with her son even on the cross».
He also alluded to people who are alone in a “hyperconnected” world and recalled that “love is made with works.” The bishop encouraged those attending to live following the teaching of the Gospel, and the model of the Virgin of Charity, “welcoming from love those who are having the worst time, dialoguing and helping.”
The bishop announced that those who participate in the April 23 procession in honor of the Patron Saint of Cartagena will have “plenary indulgence and apostolic blessing.” The plenary indulgence is the forgiveness of sins, which is usually granted to those who perform jubilees.
Next month’s event commemorates the third centenary of the arrival of the Virgin of Charity in Cartagena and the first of her canonical coronation. An anniversary that coincides with the 330th anniversary of the founding of the Holy and Royal Hospital of Charity and the 130th anniversary of the inauguration of the temple that houses it. For this reason, on Sunday, April 23, Charity will procession to the Alfonso XII Wharf and Bishop Lorca Planes will preside over a solemn Eucharist on that esplanade.
The mayoress of Cartagena, Noelia Arroyo, presented the Ounce of Gold, the economic contribution that the City Council makes every year for the sick and poor of the Santo y Real Hospital de Caridad. In her offering to Virgen de la Caridad, Arroyo thanked her for the three centuries of “protection of the people of Cartagena” and asked her to “continue listening to the confidences of the men and women of this land who seek the happiness of their own.”
Among his prayers was also the end of the war in Ukraine, so that the foster families in this city can return to their homes, and “the water that the countryside needs.” In addition, the councilor implored Charity to grant public servants “the success from unity and the agreement to take advantage of all growth opportunities in Cartagena.” Before entering the temple, the mayoress left her staff of command in the hands of her team in deference to the perpetual mayoress of the city, the Virgen de la Caridad.
The regional president, Fernando López Miras, attended this Friday the traditional offering of the Ounce of Gold in honor of the Virgin of Charity, Patron Saint of Cartagena. To questions from the media about the opening of the trial of the former president of the Ramón Luis Valcárcel Community for the ‘La Sal case’, López Miras indicated that “we have the utmost respect for judicial procedures.” Regarding the maintenance of Valcárcel as honorary president of the party, he indicated that “we will do what the statutes establish.”
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