On Saturday, June 12, 2021, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem His Beatitude Pierbattista Pizzaballa presided at the ceremony of the Rite of Ordination to the Diaconate of fourteen Salesian seminarians, in the Church of All Nations in Gethsemane.

Many priests concelebrated the Holy Mass, among them are Fr. Ibrahim Shomali, Chancellor of the Latin Patriarchate, and Fr. Emanuele Vezzoli, SDB, Vicar of the Salesian Province of the Middle East, in the presence of many Salesians, as well as several religious men and women, and the faithful. Fr. Alejandro José León Mendoza, Provincial of the “Jesus Adolescent” Province of the Middle East (MOR), participated in the ceremony via social media.

“The purpose of becoming a deacon, and afterwards a priest, is not to shine but to serve the community,” said Patriarch Pizzaballa addressing the new deacons. “The servant of the community is the one who speaks and acts according to what the Lord wants or asks. You should become the presence of the will of God, and people should feel that you’re different, that you belong to someone else, not yourself.”

“I pray that you will be important elements and small bricks in the building of the Kingdom of God, here in the Holy Land and wherever you will be,” the Patriarch concluded.

Patriarch Pizzaballa received the young deacons one after the other, then approached them to lay his hands on them and said prayers of consecration.