Pino Cannavò was about to be ordained as a permanent deacon when a serious illness completely changed the course of his life. Far from postponing the celebration indefinitely, the Archbishop of Catania, on the Italian island of Sicily, Luigi Renna, went to the intensive care unit of the city’s Policlinico to confer the diaconate on him at his hospital bedside.
According to the archdiocese itself, the celebration took place in an atmosphere of recollection and was attended only by his wife, María Rita, their two children, and a small group of people, due to the new deacon’s delicate state of health.
A vocation that illness did not stop
Cannavò belongs to the parish of the Most Holy Sacrament of Reconciliation in Catania and was completing his pastoral formation stage at the parish of San Francisco de Paola when he was diagnosed with a particularly serious illness, shortly before the scheduled date for his ordination.
Given this situation, the Archdiocese decided to move the celebration to the hospital so that he could receive the ministry for which he had been preparing for years.
«Where the Lord is, there is also His servant»
During a brief homily, the archbishop recalled the words of Jesus Christ about following and serving, emphasizing that the true disciple remains with the Lord even in times of suffering.
Addressing the new deacon, he stated that he now lives united with Christ «on the cross of his hospital bed» and that, precisely from this situation, he continues to proclaim the Gospel with his fidelity to the Lord.
The Archdiocese of Catania explained that Pino Cannavò himself stated that this was the ordination for which he had prepared for so long and that he welcomed this moment as the fulfillment of his vocation, even in the midst of illness.