POPE VISITS TURIN TOMORROW
ECCE HOMO!
May 1, 2010
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have flocked to Turin in recent weeks to spend a few minutes in silent meditation before the Holy Shroud, contemplating the image of the tortured body of a crucified man. This fact repeats itself whenever the ancient cloth is exposed to the public and even the most recent Popes have joined devout pilgrims.
It is not the mysterious origin of this image that draws people to it, rather its impressive consistency in so many minute details, to the Gospel story of Christ’s Passion: the wounds, the spilt blood, the gashes of the crown of thorns, the lashes of the whip .
"Behold the man!" Said Pilate presenting Jesus to the crowd.
Behold the man who died on the cross for us, we repeat to ourselves as we stand at first troubled and then wondrous before this, the most concrete image of the Passion.
And at the centre the solemn face of the crucifix, a face that corresponds to the oldest dictates of Christian iconography and which in turn confirms and inspires it.
Benedict XVI constantly reminds us; We want to know God and we can know Him through the face of Christ. This is why we love the images that tradition hold to be precious paths to glimpse this face, both in Manoppello and in Turin.
We know that we must look beyond the image, we must desire to behold the Risen One face to face. But we are humbly grateful for this aid to our earthly eyes which helps us to contemplate unconditional love for us, right up to death on the cross.
Above, pilgrims crowd one of the ongoing special expositions to give them more information about the Shroud.
Above, Piazza San Carlo, where the Holy Father will offer Mass tomorrow, was closed off starting today. Below, various views of Turin's largest public square taken earlier.
For the first time:
A Pope in Piazza San Carlo
by MANUELA MINUCCI
Translated from
May 1, 2010
TORINO - Www.meteo.it was the most visited site in Turin yesterday by thousands of persons, led by the Organizing Committee for the Holy Shroud Exposition, who want Pope Benedict XVI's visit tomorrow to run as smoothly as possible - without rain.
"The forecast is that the rains will stop around 5 o'clock Sunday morning and will start again around 6 p.m.," said committee president Fiorenzo Alfieri, even as he was giving instructions on his cellphone to volunteers that they should cover all the seats in Piazza San Carlo with plastic sheets to keep them dry for the Pope's Mass tomorrow.
Dealing with rain as well as security is difficult enough - officials even disputed the idea of banning people from bringing umbrellas to Piazza San Carlo - but with the notification from the weather bureau, officials breathed some relief, pointing out that above all, they would not want to spoil the joy of the faithful over the Pope's visit tomorrow.
The Pope's program for his ten-hour pastoral visit to the city is intense, with four public events, in addition to his visit to teh Holy Shroud, and five addresses.
He will be arriving at Caselle airport at 9 a.m. and will have his first encounter with the faithful in Piazza Statuto. He will then take the Popemobile to Piazza San Carlo for the Mass. He will come back to San Carlo in the afternoon to address the diocesan youth after lunching with the bishops of the Piedmont region at the Archbishop's Palace. At 5:30 p.m. he will visit the Holy Shroud. After his private prayer, he will speak on the significance of this singular relic. His last stop will be the Cottolengo, the unique charitable center started by St. Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo in the 19th century, which takes care of the sick, the aged, and the disabled.
Attendance at the papal Mass in Piazza San Carol is for ticketholders only. To accommodate those without tickets, six jumbo screens have bee set up - two in the Piazza itself on each side of teh equestrian statue' two in via Roma which leads to teh Piazza, one beside teh Catehdral of Turin, and another at Piazza Castello. The Mass is also being telecast on both national and regional TV.
The city will be on maximum secuurity alert for the visit of teh Pope, who is also a chief of state. In Piazzza Sa CArlo, there will be sharpshooters on the rooftops, dog patrols along the arcades surrounding the square, and hundreds of plainclothesmen who will be in the crowd.
The police will pay particular attnetion toPiazza Madama Cristina where activists of a group called "Sindone No, Ratzinger No' plan to demonstrate.
I found it singular - and of course, very gratifying - that this local newspaper, which serves Turin and Milan, launched an appeal this week for its readers to express their support for the Holy Father. It's a general newspaper, not a religious publication.
NOTE: I super-imposed the headline for the appeal on the image of the newspaper's Page 1 above the fold today.
Here is a translation of the appeal, which directs readers to a Facebook page.
Appeal for the Holy Father
ENOUGH!
LET US DEFEND THE POPE FROM CALUMNIES
Our newspaper is promoting this appeal to express our great solidarity with Pope Benedict XVI.
The Holy Father has been the victim lately of defamatory and exploitative attacks which attempt to portray him as an enabler with respect to one of the most odious crimes - sexual abuse of children.
The Pope represents for us - whether we are believers or not - the moral authority in Italy and in the world who more than any other has defended perennial and shared values like social solidarity, aid to the need, assistance to the sick, peace, and the protection of Christian values.
To accuse the Pope, as newspapers like the New York Times continue to do, means to undermine an institution like the Church along with all the faithful, and we may even say, all Italians.
We hope that this appeal for solidarity with the Pope may be accepted without offending the secular or religious sensitivity of anyone.
THE EDITORS
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 02/05/2010 02:47]