Australian priest ordained by Pope: ‘God has always been at work'
Australian priest ordained by Pope: ‘God has always been at work'
Father John Vespa from Australia, one of the thirty-two deacons ordained by the Pope in St. Peter’s Basilica, shares his vocational journey, which has special ties to Rome.
By Kielce Gussie
On the morning of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, June 27, thirty-two deacons, from all over the world—representing various countries and regions from the Americas to Oceania—were ordained to the priesthood in St. Peter’s Basilic by none other than Pope Leo XIV.
One deacon from Melbourne, Australia, learned earlier this month that he had been chosen to be ordained in the papal basilica. With just a few weeks to prepare, Deacon John Vespa invited family and friends and booked a last-minute flight to the Eternal City.
Chosen to represent Australia
Earlier this year, Vespa was studying at Corpus Christi College in Melbourne and one of the priests at the seminary invited all the deacons preparing for ordination to pray about putting their names forward to receive ordination at St. Peter’s Basilica.
Vespa took this invitation seriously. “Over the weekend, I discerned and prayed about it,” he explained, saying he reflected on “all the men coming together and laying down our life to be ordained.”
After time in prayer, he decided to start the process. With all his papers in order, Vespa submitted his name to the Archbishop of Melbourne, Archbishop Peter Comensoli. Weeks later, he heard he had been chosen. He explained that “a few weeks ago, on the June 3, I received an email from the Dicastery of Evangelization, which said that I was selected to represent Australia.”
Vespa described feeling incredibly blesses and honored to have been selected and he explained, “I know that God’s hand has always been at work.”
Heart of Jesus, heart of a priest
The priestly ordinations were held during the Jubilee of Priests and on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which Vespa said is no coincidence.
“The Sacred Heart of Jesus is a model for the heart of the priest, which is love, mercy, sacrifice,” he said. Even more, Vespa highlighted that Pope Benedict XVI had described priesthood as being born from the heart of Christ.
Full circle
While being ordained by Pope Leo is special in itself, Vespa’s vocation story has roots in the Eternal City. In 2018, he and his family were visiting Rome. While inside St. Peter’s Basilica, in front of Michelangelo’s Pietà, he decided to tell his mother that he had applied to the seminary, and later that day he shared the news with his father in St. Peter’s Square.
Returning to Rome for his ordination reminds Vespa of this unique moment because God has “worked through our lives and that's a special blessing for myself, my family, but also all the people of God.”
Now, Fr. John Vespa’s vocational discernment has come full circle—from where it all began to the moment of ordination.
Looking forward, he said he’ll not only bring home an incredible memory, but will also “try to take some pearls of wisdoms from that homily and live that out in my priestly ministry.”