{"id":94851,"date":"2026-04-24T11:13:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T11:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/pope-leo-who-was-kicked-out-of-mass-as-a-naughty-child-will-ordain-him-on-sunday\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T11:14:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T11:14:20","slug":"pope-leo-who-was-kicked-out-of-mass-as-a-naughty-child-will-ordain-him-on-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/pope-leo-who-was-kicked-out-of-mass-as-a-naughty-child-will-ordain-him-on-sunday\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo, who was kicked out of Mass as a naughty child, will ordain him on Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

The Diocese of Rome shared the testimony of eight seminarians who will be ordained priests by Pope Leo XIV on April 26, Good Shepherd Sunday. These include Christian Saguazino, who as a child was once thrown out of Mass by a priest because he was causing “anarchy”.<\/p>\n

Saguazino, along with Deacon Danilo Defant and Sister Ester Maddalena Iepanna, will share their testimony during a Mass for vocations on Friday, April 24, at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral church of Rome.<\/p>\n

Saguazino discovered his vocation in St. John of the Cross Parish. “When I was a kid \u2013 after making my First Communion \u2013 I would go to play soccer and then attend Mass every day, always bringing a friend along,” the future priest recalled.<\/p>\n

“At that time, there wasn’t even a proper church building; instead, services were held in tents. My friends and I, naturally, created a bit of chaos. So, one day the assistant pastor threw us out and said we would be excommunicated!” He shared with a smile.<\/p>\n

Recalling that time of mischief, Saguazino said that “Even then \u2013 in spite of everything \u2013 I felt the joy of being in the church; I loved to look at the altar and the tabernacle.” During his visit, he stressed, “It was important to meet so many priests who were happy to be priests. Their testimony was fundamental.”<\/p>\n

An uncle who was a priest always supported him<\/h2>\n

Yordan Camilo Medina is Colombian and has an uncle who is a priest. As a child, he recalled, “I would accompany them to mountain communities to take Communion, and the joy of the believers upon receiving the body of Christ was incredible.”<\/p>\n

He said, “Now he is also in Rome and I have followed him here on my path to becoming a priest. He has always supported me.”<\/p>\n

he dreamed of becoming an ascetic<\/h2>\n

Giovanni Emanuele Nunziante is 32 years old. He was born in Rome but spent part of his childhood in England. \u201cIf I had to tell you how my business started, my earliest memory is when I was a kid,\u201d he said. “I didn’t yet fully understand what it meant to be a priest, but I dreamed of being closer to God and the thought of becoming an ascetic came to my mind. Then, it all went into oblivion!”<\/p>\n

The call came back strongly during the fourth Sunday of Easter in 2016. \u201cOn hearing the gospel of the Good Shepherd, the desire to be close to the Lord in a special way came back\u2026 I realized that my deepest desire was to offer my life like Jesus \u2013 the Good Shepherd,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Effect of neocatechumenal route<\/h2>\n

Antonino Ordin, 27, explained that his vocation was born within the faith formation program known as the Neocatechumenal Way: “I was born and grew up in a very practicing family, and this led me to appreciate the beauty of what the Church does on a daily basis. I was particularly fortunate during a mission in Sweden to meet priests and missionary families who were fundamental to my understanding.”<\/p>\n

He wanted to become a doctor and after serving in missions in Latin America, the Middle East, and India, he realized that God was calling him to dedicate himself completely out of love for Him.<\/p>\n

He was born in Africa to a non-Catholic family<\/h2>\n

Jos\u00e9 Emmanuel Nelme Sabat\u00e9 was born in Cameroon. “My father was Protestant and we often prayed at home,” he said. “When I was 11 years old, I entered the minor seminary of my home diocese because it had a reputation as an excellent school. It was here that I learned about the Catholic faith.”<\/p>\n

He shared, “I was baptized at the age of 12 and I believe that during that sacrament, which was unfamiliar to me at the time, I decided to become a priest.” He is now learning sign language and helping disabled people.<\/p>\n

He was an international pianist<\/h2>\n

“I come from a Catholic family,” said Daniele Riscica, “and I have always participated in parish activities; however, I studied at the Frosinone Conservatory and completed piano studies in classical music. From there, I continued my career as a concert pianist.”<\/p>\n

Hailed as a rising star of the international piano scene at the age of 24, he said, “I had already achieved many goals in life, yet I was not satisfied. I felt God was calling me to do something else. So I tried to enter seminary \u2013 almost as a trial … and there I felt happy.”<\/p>\n

He is grateful for his parents’ faith<\/h2>\n

Giorgio LaRosa is 30 years old and said that his “vocation was born from attending the parish, thanks to the faith instilled in me by my parents.” <\/p>\n

The example of his parents, as well as “the example of other Christians, lay people and priests, was very powerful. In their stories, I saw the power of the Gospel,” he reported.<\/p>\n

He left his job and entered madrassa<\/h2>\n

Guglielmo Lapenna is 35 years old and worked in a wine factory before entering the priesthood.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring World Youth Day 2016 in Krak\u00f3w, I decided to leave my job and enter seminary,\u201d he shared, adding: \u201cAnd the Lord has confirmed my calling every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

this story was first published <\/a>By ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language affiliate of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Diocese of Rome shared the testimony of eight seminarians who will be ordained priests by Pope Leo XIV on April 26, Good Shepherd Sunday. These include Christian Saguazino, who as a child was once thrown out of Mass by a priest because he was causing “anarchy”. Saguazino, along with Deacon Danilo Defant and Sister<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[1343,6381,249,2203,24311,8108,248,507],"class_list":["post-94851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bible-news","tag-child","tag-kicked","tag-leo","tag-mass","tag-naughty","tag-ordain","tag-pope","tag-sunday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94851"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94853,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94851\/revisions\/94853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}