Cardinal Ortega is Pope’s envoy to Canadian fête

Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, Archbishop of Havana, will be Pope Francis’ special envoy to the celebration of the 350th anniversary of the parish of Notre-Dame de Québec, Canada, “the mother church of North America,” which will be held Sept. 14-15 in that Canadian city.

Cardinal Ortega will be accompanied by Msgr. Denis Belanger, parish priest of Notre-Dame de Québec and rector of the Basilica-Cathedral of the same name, and the Rev. Pierre Gingras, parish priest of St. John the Baptist and St. Dominic in Québec City.

The three were appointed by the Pope at the request of Cardinal Gérald Cyprian Lacroix, Archbishop of Québec and Primate of Canada. A shrine to the Virgin Mary was built in Québec in 1647 and the parish was dedicated in 1664.

The letter of invitation from Pope Francis to Cardinal Ortega — written in Latin and sent to the Cuban prelate on July 25 — was published Monday (Sept. 9) in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.

This will be the second time that the Archbishop of Havana represents the Pope in a an international ceremony. In August 2013, Cardinal Ortega presided over celebrations for the first centennial of the Archdiocese of San Salvador, representing the Holy Father.

In a related development, the Vatican on Tuesday (Sept. 9) released a list of the participants to the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to be held in Rome, Oct. 5-19. Archbishop Dionisio Guillermo García Ibáñez of Santiago de Cuba will be the island’s representative.

Cardinal Ortega resigned from the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops in November 2013, prompting speculation that he would retire and perhaps become an advisor to the Pope or a special Vatican envoy. He will be 78 on Oct. 18. He submitted his retirement to the Holy See at the age of 75 but it was not accepted.