Pope Francis Sends Message to Toronto Students

I love the part in this Perspectives video about the fact that Toronto’s Catholic school students will be receiving a special message recorded just for them by Pope Francis at next week’s Catholic Schools Week celebration!

Here’s a full update on this development:

TORONTO, April 28, 2014 /CNW/ – Ontario now has a unique connection to Pope Francis. Two Ontario students are in receipt of a letter from the Vatican containing the Pope’s personal response to a special request made by Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board Student, Madeline Ellepola and York Catholic District School Board student, Michael Pallotto. Both individuals are student trustees representing the interests of students throughout Ontario’s publicly funded Catholic schools. Last fall, after consultation with their peers, both students signed and sent a letter to the Vatican requesting the Pontiff’s personal message to the students of Ontario on the occasion of a historic “province-wide” Mass planned for May 7th.

Mass is the central act of worship in the Catholic Church and happens many times throughout the year for the almost 600,000 students in Ontario’s Catholic schools. What has not happened before is the celebration of Mass almost simultaneously in every school board. Ontario’s first-ever province-wide Mass for students takes on even greater significance now that Pope Francis is aware of the event.