After weekly general audience yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI encouraged a group of 59 recently ordained priests of the Legion of Christ to live up to their vocation.

“I want to remind you,” he said, “on the occasion of the Year for Priests, to learn from John Mary Vianney the love of Christ and his generous service to the Church — that you always give totally, fully and joyously, never forgetting the Lord’s predilection for your lives.”

The new priests attended the audience with a throng of family, friends, fellow priests and members of the Legion’s apostolate movement Regnum Christi.

The Legion also announced that the apostolic visitation into the congregation will be completed by the middle of March 2010, a statement from the Legion said.

According to a Dec. 15 statement on its website legionariesofchrist.org:

“The Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, has informed Father Alvaro Corcuera, general director of the Legion of Christ, that the five apostolic visitors and other members of the Roman Curia met in early December. During that meeting, it was agreed that the visitors would finish their work by mid-March of 2010, in order to present their reports to the Holy Father. Any further steps and their timing depend on the Holy See.

“We ask all our readers and friends to continue accompanying the visitors in their mission and all Legionaries of Christ with their prayers.”

The visitors, who began their work July 15, are:

— Bishop Ricardo Watty Urquidi, of Tepic, Mexico, in Mexico and Central America,
— Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, in the United States and Canada.
— Bishop Giuseppe Versaldi of Alessandria, Italy, in Italy, Israel, South Korea and the Philippines.
— Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati Andrello of Concepcion, Chile, in South America, and
— Bishop Ricardo Blázquez Pérez of Bilbao, Spain, in Europe (with the exception of Italy).