Youngstown bishop to meet with the pope Monday

YOUNGSTOWN − Catholic Diocese of Youngstown Bishop David J. Bonnar will celebrate Mass with Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on Monday.

Following the Mass, Bonnar and 179 new bishops from around the world will participate in a private audience with the pope at the Vatican. The meeting with the pontiff will conclude a week of activities for new bishops that began on Sept. 12.

This year’s course for new bishops includes those ordained between 2019 and 2022, as the program was delayed for several years due to the pandemic.

Pope Francis appointed Bonnar as the sixth Bishop of Youngstown on Nov. 17, 2020, and he was ordained and installed as bishop on Jan. 12, 2021 at St. Columba Cathedral. The diocese includes six counties: Ashtabula, Columbiana, Mahoning, Portage, Stark and Trumbull.

“I have spent much of my short episcopate focusing on the Holy Father’s 'The Joy of the Gospel,'" Bonnar wrote in a blog detailing his experience in Rome. "I cannot even begin to put into words the joy in my heart, knowing that I will meet this holy man who is calling us to a renewed encounter with Jesus and a deeper realization of our journey together through the Synod on Synodality.”

"The Joy of the Gospel" was the pope’s apostolic exhortation released in 2013, in the first year of his papacy, providing a vision for church life and mission. In 2021, the pontiff convened a global synod, beginning first with a local phase of discussions and prayer in each diocese, including the Diocese of Youngstown, and which will continue through the Synod of Bishops in Rome in 2023.

In 2013, a group of Walsh University students studying at the school's campus in Rome met the pope and invited him to dinner.

More Pope Francis:Walsh University students invite Pope Francis to dinner

In 2017, then-Walsh University President Richard Jusseaume and his wife, Theresa, also met the pontiff during a public audience.

During the week, the new bishops have gathered at the International College of the Legionaries of Christ in Rome near the Vatican, and have reflected on the theme, "To Announce the Gospel in the Changing Epoch and After the Pandemic: The Service of Bishops."

Bonnar has written about the experience and posted photos at www.doy.org/bishop-message.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Bishop David J. Bonnar set to meet with Pope Francis in Rome