"Our Egos, Our Worldliness, Our Desire For Respect Must Be Crushed" – On Bench's 100th, The Vice-Pope's Prayer For "Wisdom"

BALTIMORE – We've been building up to this for a good while... and now, you'll understand why.

Well, we can always hope.

Bringing the expected mix of affirmation and challenge to global Catholicism's oldest episcopal conference on its 100th anniversary – and in only the second appearance of its kind from the Pope's lead deputy over said century – Cardinal Pietro Parolin delivered a pointed, resonant homily at tonight's USCCB Centennial Mass in the Basilica of the Assumption, one of two major talks during his first solo trip to the country. (Above right, Parolin is seen before Mass in prayer at the tomb of John Carroll, the founding shepherd of the Stateside Church, in the crypt of the cathedral he envisioned.)

A rare turn in English by the Cardinal-Secretary of State, the 13-minute message delivered on Pope Francis' behalf effectively serves as a papal charter on the qualities that should mark the bench's "second century" of collegial governance... and those that shouldn't.

Here, fullvideo:



After an hour of regional meetings, the business piece of this 100th Plenary begins at 10am Eastern Monday with the usual formalities, headlined by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo's first annual address as conference president, and the customary speech from the Nuncio to Washington, Archbishop Christophe Pierre.

SVILUPPO: After a couple hours' delay due to the institutional convergences at hand, a text copy of the homily – which couldn't be heard in the Basilica due to acoustic hiccups – is now available as a pdf.

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