Card. Gérald Lacroix

“I am a happy man, this is the gift of God (…), it comes from our love for God" – the cardinal said. Though as children, he and his six siblings spent lots of time away from their father, who worked as a lumberjack. When he was young, Gerard Lacroix worked as a graphic artist in a printing house. But he felt all along that he would like to help poor people. During his studies he met a missionary who had been working in Columbia for years, and he decided to join him. „Then and there, the Lord told me to follow him. This turned everything upside down, because I hand not planned on becoming a priest” – recounted Gérald Lacroix, who served for nine years in a Columbian war a zone controlled by a militant guerrilla organisation. There were 18 villages in his parish – the most distant village was 18-hours away and could only be accessed on mule-back. On one occasion, when together with the missionary they were putting bandage on the leg of a man who had blood poisoning, an agitated young man barged in on them. He needed urgent help for his sick child. Because of how unwell the baby was the father insisted that his child be christened. However, there were no priests in the area. Eventually, due to the uniqueness of the situation, with the consent of the priest’s secretary and the missionary, Gérald Lacroix performed the ceremony. After 1988, he started serving the community as a priest too. Since 2011, he has been the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Québec and Primate of Canada.