Spirit Daily

Prayer need: two major Marian devotees die

Reyes Ruiz

We have been informed, sadly, of the deaths of two great friends of the Blessed Mother. In the Phoenix area, Reyes Ruiz, husband of well-known seer Estela, whose apparitions began in 1988 while he was visiting Medjugorje and Estela, an educator, was home, died Sunday morning at about one a.m. Arizona time after a long and heroic bout with prostate cancer. It is difficult to describe the courage of this man, who lived with cancer for years while continuing full speed on projects to build a school for the poor and evangelize in various far-flung parts of the world. When asked how he was doing, he always replied, "Like a champion!" And even when we spoke to him a little over a week ago, he had no complaints, except to say it was getting a bit rougher. At the time, he was under last-stage hospice care. His concern was for his wife, whom he loved so dearly and escorted all over the U.S. on speaking engagements during the 1990s.

Reyes, you were and are a hero -- an example of love. We pray for you. Please pray for us.

Another important figure on the Marian scene, Bishop Pio Bello Ricardo of Los Teques, Venezuela, died the same day. He is known as the Church official who formally approved the apparitions site of Betania, Venezuela, associated with seer Maria Esperanza, whose son-in-law Carlos Marrero Bornn writes:

Dear Michael, first of all, receive my mother´s blessings and the love and warmth of the family for you and all yours. Yesterday we sent you an e-mail to inform you about the death of Mons. Pio Bello Ricardo. We thought you may want to publish this in your web. He died on July, Sunday 27th, at approximately 9:00 a.m. while he was stepping out of his car to attend a group of people who were waiting for him to be confirmed in their Catholic faith.

My Mother and father-in-law and the whole family will attend to the funeral this afternoon, at Los Teques Cathedral. He will be buried tomorrow.

This has been a quite difficult moment for Mrs. Maria Esperanza due to the fact that he was very close to the family and played an incredibly important role in approving the apparitions of Our Blessed Mother in Betania, a fact that remains untouchable in the beautiful Pastoral Letter that he wrote, to leave a clear and profound testimony of all the process that was followed, to study the supernatural phenomena in Betania.

Mrs. Maria Esperanza de Bianchini, Mr. Geo Bianchini and the whole family ask for the prayers of the faithful for the soul of this wise, special and wonderful Monsignor.

[editor's note: Reyes played the voice part of Bishop Pio Bello as the narrator for a Betania documentary]