Obviously a belated post, but it was a great photo opportunity for everyone concerned!.
THE POPE'S CHRISTMAS VISIT
TO A SOUP KITCHEN IN ROME
Pope presses on in first trip
outside Vatican since Mass attack
VATICAN CITY, Dec. 28 (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI waded into a crowd of well-wishers in Rome yesterday, just days after he was knocked down by a woman at a Christmas Eve Mass.
It was the 82-year-old Pontiff’s first appearance outside the Vatican since the attack, which left him unhurt but raised security concerns.
The Vatican said it would review security procedures but could not ensure the pope’s security 100 percent because he is regularly surrounded by tens of thousands of people for his weekly audiences, Masses, papal greetings and other events.
Security was tight but Benedict greeted well-wishers as usual. He kissed some children and caressed the hands of others as he entered a soup kitchen operated by the Sant’Egidio Community, a lay Catholic group based in Rome, a few miles from the Vatican.
Many in the crowd applauded, some shouting “Viva il Papa!” or “Long Live the Pope!”
The Pope has kept up his busy holiday schedule despite the incident, in which a woman jumped a barricade in St. Peter’s Basilica and pulled the pope to the ground as she was taken down by guards.
Benedict got up quickly and celebrated the Mass. The next morning, he delivered his traditional Christmas Day message.
The Vatican said the woman was mentally unstable and identified her as 25-year-old Susanna Maiolo, a Swiss-Italian national. She remains in a clinic for treatment.
The visit
Translated from
Dec. 27, 2009
At 1 p.m. today, Feast of the Holy Family, the Holy Father Benedict XVI went to the mess hall on Via Dandolo in Trastevere to have lunch with representatives of the various groups assisted by the Community of Sant'Egidio.
On his arrival, the Pope was welcomed by members of the Community led by its founder, Prof. Andrea Riccardi; and by Mons. Luigi Moretti, vice-regent of the Diocese of Rome, and Mons. Vincenzo Paglia, Bishop of Terni-Narni-Amelia.
In the dining hall, after the prayer of benediction, the Pope was formally welcomed in remarks by Prof. Riccardi, after which they sat down to lunch. The Pope and Riccardi were seated with 12 of the Sant'Egidio wards at lunch.
Before dessert, the Holy Father addressed the gathering. Afterwards, the children present sang a Christmas song for him, and the Pope handed out presents to each of them.
Finally, in an adjoining hall, the Pope met with a group of 30 immigrants who are taking Italian language lessons for free with the Sant'Egidio Community.
Outside, he also greeted all those who had been unable to be accommodated within the dining hall and who waited to see him.
Here is a translation of the Pope's 'after lunch' remarks:
Dear friends:
It is a very moving experience for me to be with you, here in the family of the Sant'Egidio Community, to be with friends of Jesus, who has a special love for persons who suffer, for those in difficulty, and wishes to have them as brothers and sisters. Thank you for this opportunity.
I am very happy and I thank all those who, with love and competence, prepared the meal - I truly appreciate their competence with the cuisine, my compliments! - and those who served so efficiently so that we finished a great meal in an hour. Thank you and congratulations!
I address an affectionate thought to the Vice-Regent, Mons, Luigi Moretti, and to Mons. Vincenzo Paglia, Bishop of Terni-Narni-Amelia. And an affectionate greeting to Prof. Andrea Rcciardi, founder of the Community - a longtime friend, as are Mons. Paglia and Mons. Spreafico - with thanks for the cordial words they addressed me.
And with Prof. Riccardi, I greet the president of the Commmunity, Prof. Marco Impagliazzo, and the parish priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere, Mons. Matteo Zuppi.
Finally, I greet all the friends of Sant'Egidio and each of you present. Over lunch, I was able to learn a bit about the stories of some among you, as a reflection of the human situations represented here, as well as stories of rediscovering love here at Sant'Egidio: experiences of older people, of immigrants, homless people, gypsies, disabled persons, those in economic and other difficulties - everyone,in one way or another, sorely tried by life.
I am here with you to tell you I am close to you and I love you, that your persons and experiences are not far from my thoughts. You are at the center and the heart of the Community of Sant'Egidio, just as you are in my heart.
The gestures of love by those who follow Jesus make visible the truth that "God loved us first and continues to love us first - for which we too can respond with love" (Deus caritas est, 17).
Jesus said, "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me." (Mt 25,35-36), concluding, "Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me'" (v. 40).
Listening to these words, how can we not feel that we are truly friends to those in whom the Lord recognizes himself? Not just friends, but family members.
I have come to visit you precisely on the Feast of the Holy Family because, in a way, they were like you. Indeed, the family of Jesus, from the very start, had difficulties: they lived through the discomfort of not finding hospitality, they were forced to emigrate to Egypt because of the violence of King Herod.
You know very well what such difficulties mean, but you now have someone who loves you and helps you. Each of you has found a family here, thanks to the attentive services of the Community of Sant'Egidio which offers a sign of God's love to the poor.
What happened here today is like what happens at home: those who serve and help, together with those who are served and helped, and given first place is he who is most in need.
An expression from the Psalms comes to mind: "How good it is, how pleasant, where the people dwell as one!" (Ps 133,1).
The commitment to make those who are alone or in need feel that they are part of a family - so praiseworthily carried forward by the Community of Sant'Egidio - is born from attentive listening to the Word of God and from prayer. I wish to encourage everyone to persevere in this way of faith.
With the words of St. John Chrysostom, I wish to remind each of you: "Remember that you become priests of Christ, when you give with your own hands, not flesh but bread, and not blod, but a glass of water" (Homily on the Gospel of Matthew, 42,3).
What riches the love of God offers to life, a love expressed in concrete service towards our brothers who are in need! St. Lawrence, Deacon of the Church of Rome, when the Magistrates of his time threatened him in order that he would give up the treasures of the Church, indicated to them the poor people of Rome as the true treasure of the Church. Remembering St. Lawrence's gesture, we can well say that you are indeed the precious treasure of the Church.
To love and to serve gives us the joy of the Lord, who says: "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20,35). At this time of particular economic difficulties, may each one be a sign of hope and witness for a new world to those who, enclosed in their own selfishness and deluded that they can achieve happiness by themselves, really live in sadness or in an ephemeral joy which leaves the heart empty.
A few days ago, we observed the Holy Nativity: God became a Baby, he came near to us to tell us he loves us and that he needs our love.
I wish everyone affectionately happy holidays and the joy of experiencing ever more the love of God.
I invoke the protection of the Virgin of the Visitation, who teaches us to go 'in haste' towards our needy brothers, and I bless you all with affection.
Here is a translation of what the Pope said:
Dear brothers and sisters,
Aftr having taken part in the festive lunch at the dining hall of the Sant'Egidio Community, and having greeted some students of the school for language and culture here, I greet with warmest wishes those who were unable to enter the building but who took part in this encounter from outside - I am told for an hour or two. Thank you!
So many people, coming from various nations, and driven by need, find themselves here to find a welcome word, some assistance, some light towards a better future. As the Apostle Paul said: "If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal" ( 1 Cor 13, 1).
This, too, is the language of this school, which we must learn to practice increasingly. It is taught to us by the Baby Jesus, God who became one of us for love, and speaks to us above all through his presence, his humility of being a Baby who makes himself dependent on our love. This language of love makes our city and the world better.
I bless you all affectionately and thank you for what you do for others in the work of building a civilization of love. Thank you to everyone.
Happy holidays and a Happy New Year!
The photos we get from the news agencies never tell the complete story, of course, often missing the most significant ones, as with this story, for which I cannot find a single photograph to illustrate it...
Benedict XVI reaches out
to Rome's 'marginal' people
by LUCA BRUGNARA
Translated from
Translated from
Dec. 28, 2009
"He embraced me, and after listening to my situation, he murmured that he would pray for me - I will never forget this day".
The emotion expressed by Godwin, a Nigerian, was shared by the more than 150 like him who lunched Sunday with Pope Benedict XVI in Sant'Egidio's soup kitchen in Via Dandolo,
It was the first time that a Pope had done this, joining people with diverse life stories and origins, young and old, who were all moved by the personal interest that the Pope took in each of them.
"He has given me courage," Godwin adds. He came to Italy 10 years ago, and now works as a doorman in one of the Sant'Egidio Community's facilities. "It is an experience I will carry in my heart all my life. I never thought I could have such an intense emotion."
The Pope had circulated among the tables, wanting to hear the stories of his 'lunchmates', to speak to them and comfort them. To his right at table sat the founder of the Community, historian Andrea Riccardi
[who was a 19-year-old university student when he founded Sant'Egidio], and to his left, Qorbanali Esmaili, Afghan, Shiite Muslim and political refugee.
"It's the first time a religious leader has listened to me, and above all, he dwelt on the difficulties of refugees around the world," Esmaili said. "He asked me to tell him my story - it was very moving, we spoke quite a while, and maybe, we will meet again".
Qorbanali has been in Italy ten years and was homeless for a long time.
Also at the head table, which sat 14, was Boban Trajkovic, a Romanian gypsy, who is an orthodox Christian, with his wife Dragana and 3-year-old daughter Claudia.
"The Pope urged us never to be discouraged," he said. "I was much struck by his simplicity and humanity".
The lunch lasted 45 minutes, with antipasto, lasagna, meatballs, lentils and mashed potatoes, and festive panettone (Italian raisin bread) and spumante (Italian sparkling wine), with a final toast.
"One sees the cooks are quite competent," Papa Ratzinger jested later, thanking those who are used to cooking at least a thousand meals everyday.
"He was very kind," said Paola, one of the cooks. "I've never cooked for a Pope!"
Everyone present had his own story to tell.
"He approached me," says Marisa Saule, an 82-year-old Roman native. "He asked about me, and then he joked about our age, saying we were both from 'the class of 1927' - a class of iron, he said". Marisa, who statred workign when she was 10, was the oldest woman present.
Then there was Peppino Scarsella, a 90-year-old widower, who lives in the Tiburtino area [one of Rome's large suburban train and Metro stations].
"All my life, I was a barber, and now I depend on Sant'Egidio for assistance because my pension is scant. It is the first time I have seen a Pope close up - and it is one of the most beautiful moments in my life."
The Pope spoke to each of them. "He wanted to know how I live," said Aniello Bosco, 25, who has been handicapped from birth. "He comforted me, recalling what the Gospel says. He showed a humanity that I had not expected".
There were 31 children among the lunch guests - and each of them got a present from the Pope.
"I never thought a Pope would be interested in my personal life," said Giuseppe Pisu. "He listened to the problems I had from when in 1980, I was in Tehran with my travelling circus, and war erupted between Iran and Iraq... It is a day I never ever expected to experience".
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 31/12/2009 14:22]