The Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria Domenica Mazzarello says he’s grateful for the warm welcome received at the Rome-based parish dedicated to the co-foundress of the Salesian Sisters.

In an interview shared with the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) communication office Cardinal Stephen Brislin says the “hospitality and Italian warmth,” received upon arrival for the possession of his titular parish on May 12 was welcoming.

Cardinal Brislin said the assigned church is meaningful for him because he has worked with Salesian Sisters in Cape Town and on a national level in South Africa and the SACBC.

“One thing that moved me was that when I arrived at the parish, people were waiting for me to arrive and I was so warmly received, with such lovely Italian hospitality and Italian warmth, I felt welcomed in the parish,” he said.

Cardinal Brislin together with 20 other Cardinals at the consistory of September 30, 2023, in St Peter Square was appointed to a titular church in Rome, as per ancient custom that some of the churches around Rome be assigned to the patronage of the cardinals.

The Local Ordinary of Cape Town Archdiocese also expressed gratitude to the parishioners and priests for an “absolutely beautiful and joyful liturgy with wonderful singing,” making “it such a moving liturgy of just a normal parish mass where people were participating and praying.”

In the interview with Fr Thabo Chomane of Kroonstad Diocese communication office, Cardinal Brislin said, “Another thing that touched me very deeply was that the youth before my arrival when they heard that I had been appointed or that that parish had been given to me as my titular church, they did a lot of research into South Africa and the history of the church in South Africa and more particularly Cape Town and the church in Cape Town.”

“They also did quite a bit of research into me as well, and from that they produced a lovely booklet that was given to the parishioners, so the parishioners will know beforehand who I am, where I come from, and what the history of my own experience of church has been. So, it was really such a lovely, lovely thing to have done. And I was so grateful that they’d put in such a lot of effort, which was also a way of welcoming me into the parish,” he added.

Present also at the celebration were clergy from Southern Africa working and studying in Rome, the clergy from the Archdiocese of Cape Town, and laity from his home Diocese of Kroonstad.