Happy 85th birthday Pope Francis: Ad multos annos!

Dec 17, 2021

By By Benedict Mayaki, SJ
Pope Francis turned 85 on Friday, December 17. Just last Monday, Dec 13, he celebrated the 52nd anniversary of his priestly ordination.

People across the world, a not only Catholics, celebrated with the Pope on his birthday, with messages of good wishes pouring in from all different quarters.

Also felicitating the Pope on his birthday is Cardinal Michael Czerny, a fellow Jesuit and the under-secretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. He highlights the gift that a birthday is.

“Dec 17 is a day worth reflecting on,” the Cardinal says, adding that the Holy Father must have already had retirement plans when he went into the conclave that elected him Pope in 2013, but “the Holy Spirit decided differently.”

“The intervening years are a free gift - gratuitous,” Cardinal Czerny notes, “I think that highlights our feelings, which is that we can only be very grateful.”

“Ad multos annos!” Cardinal Czerny says, wishing the Pope many more years to come. --Vatican News