From the Desk of Fr. William Blazek, SJ
Regional Director for Canada and USA

I had the great joy this past Friday of attending the International Federation of Catholic Physicians Associations (FIAMC in French) at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome to speak on the topic of “Physicians and Devotion to the Sacred Heart.” I will stay in Rome until the celebrations of June 28 and 29 of the 175th anniversary of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostleship of Prayer).

The FIAMC leads a network of national and regional associations and guilds across the world and drew 240 leaders and guests to the Eternal City for a ceremony consecrating physicians to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was a great joy to be with them for this ceremony at St. Peters in the “Chapel of the Choir,” and even more so for a special audience with Pope Francis following the next day Saturday. The diversity of the group was impressive with physicians and health care providers from Congo, Puerto Rico, Croatia, Belgium, the Philippines and many other countries as well.

Fr. Blazek with members of the US delegation to the FIAMC meeting on St Peter’s Square just before Saturday’s audience with Pope Francis.

The thrust of my presentation this weekend was that the love of Christ displayed in the Sacred Heart is mirrored in the Christian love a Catholic physician has for patients. There was time also to explain the imagery of the Sacred Heart: pierced, crowned, bleeding, surmounted by cross, and on fire with love for all mankind. The attendees enjoyed the talk enough to invite me to give the presentation this fall in Zagreb, Croatia! Sadly I’m previously committed, or you would be getting an update from the former Yugoslavia in the fall!

The Holy Father warmly greeted us and stressed that healers must “draw near to the the sick” in a ministry of listening and comfort.

You can read all the details of the Holy Father’s address here.

To learn more about the big celebrations coming up this Friday and Saturday, make sure to visit this website.

I’ll be sending updates from Rome later this week, as well as posting a video to be produced the Jesuit World Headquarters, our “Curia” in Vatican City.

It has been a wonderful trip thus far and looks to keep getting better and better!

Prayers and Blessings!

Fr. Blazek

Above Photo Caption: Fr. Blazek with His Holiness this past Saturday in the Sala Regina Audience Hall in Vatican City.