A new book featuring messages and homilies by Monsignor Vicente Faustino Zazpe was presented in Buenos Aires to advance his beatification cause. The event gathered former collaborators and faithful at the Basilica of Santa Rosa de Lima. Church figures highlighted his legacy as a pastor and prophet.
On November 28, at the Basilica of Santa Rosa de Lima in Buenos Aires, the book Messages and Homilies of Monsignor Vicente Faustino Zazpe was presented, the first volume in a series edited by the Universidad Católica de Santa Fe. It compiles his preachings from 1969 to 1979 and aims to promote his beatification cause.
The presentation was led by Presbítero Jorge Montini, ordained by Zazpe and his biographer, alongside Gustavo Tibaldo, both from the Asociación de Fieles Monseñor Zazpe in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. The venue holds special significance: it was the first parish where Zazpe ministered in 1949, after his training in the Juventud de Acción Católica de San Francisco Javier.
Cardinal Emeritus of Tucumán, Luis Villalba, sent a message: “Zazpe was a true pastor. We must recover everything he said and wrote. And we must thank God for giving him to us Argentines.”
Monsignor Luis Fernández, Emeritus Bishop of Rafaela, contributed via written message: “He was a strong man of God, with a passion for truth, whose deep silences helped clarify new times of hope.” He added: “Zazpe's beatitudes opened paths of commitment and fidelity to the Church, the country, and the world.”
Journalist José Ignacio López, who lived with Zazpe at Santa Rosa de Lima, stressed: “We have the responsibility to make every effort to launch his beatification cause. This purpose respects the Church's timelines, but it falls to Zazpe's contemporaries to promote the initiative.”
Vicente Faustino Zazpe was born in Buenos Aires in 1920 and ordained a priest in 1948. He served in parishes including Santa Rosa de Lima, Nuestra Señora de Lourdes in Belgrano, and Luján Porteño in Flores. In 1961, Pope John XXIII appointed him the first bishop of Rafaela. He participated in Vatican II and the assemblies of Medellín and Puebla. From 1973, he was Archbishop of Santa Fe until his death on January 24, 1984, and held the vice presidency of the Argentine Episcopal Conference in several periods.
In 2009, then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio described him as a prophet: “When many fearful people sought to compromise by staying silent, he spoke. And when those same people, after the danger passed, dared to speak, he was silent: prophet! He never spoke from politics, but from the Gospel, illuminating injustice and any kind of messianism. Zazpe was like that: a worker for the Kingdom.”