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FLASH! Police say 250,000
attended today's Papal Mass
PALERMO, Oct. 3 (Translated from Apcom) - According to the Palermo police, the crowd estimate for the papal Mass today was 250,000 - far above the 100,000 that had been expected.
If I remember correctly, that would make it the second largest attendance for a Mass by Benedict XVI outside of Rome (the one in Loreto in 2007 was 300,000). God bless the Palermitani.
The Holy Father is now at the Archbishop's Palace where he was to lunch with some 4o cardinals and bishops.
P.S. Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican press director, has had to issue a statement this afternoon on the attendance at the Papal Mass:
With respect to the number of persons who attended the Pope's Mass in Palermo, various news agencies continue to report the evidently erroneous number of 30,000. Please note that both city police and the carabinieri (state police) have given a crowd estimate well beyond 200,000.
Anyone who watched the TV coverage or has seen crowd photos taken at the Mass would know that 30,000 is just flat out wrong!
MASS IN PALERMO - 2
Here is a full translation of the Holy Father's homily:
Dear brothers and sisters:
It is my great joy to be able to break with you the bread of the Word of God and the Eucharist.
I greet you all with affection and I thank you for your warm welcome. I particularly greet your pastor, Archbishop Paolo Romeo. I thank him for the expressions of welcome which he addressed to me in the name of everyone, and also for the meaningful gift that he gave me.
I greet all the archbishops and bishops present, priests, religious, and the representatives of Church associations and movements, .
A special thought goes to Mayor Diego Cammarata, with gratitude for his words of welcome; to the Representative of the Italian government, and to all civilian and military authorities who have honored our gathering with their presence.
And special thanks to all who generously worked together to organize and prepare for this day.
Dear friends, my visit comes on the occasion of an important regional assembly of young people and families whom I will meet later today.
But I also come to share in the joys and hopes, labors and commitments, ideals and aspirations, of this diocesan community.
When the ancient Greeks landed in this region, as the mayor recalled in his greeting, they called it Panormo, which means 'all port' - a name that indicated security, peace and serenity.
Coming here among you for the first time, it is my hope that this city, inspired by the most authentic values of her history and traditions, may always be able to realize for its residents, as for the entire nation, the serenity and peace connoted by its name.
I know that in Palermo, as in all of Sicily, there is no lack of difficulties, problems and concerns. I think especially of those who live their existence concretely in precarious conditions because of the lack of work, of uncertainty for the future, of physical and moral sufferings, and as the Archbishop pointed out, because of organized crime.
Today I am among you to demonstrate my spiritual nearness and that I remember you in prayer. I am here to give you strong encouragement to have no fear in bearing witness with clarity to the human and Christian values that are so profoundly rooted in the faith and history of this territory and its people.
Dear brothers and sisters, every liturgical assembly is a space for the presence of God. Gathered together for the Holy Eucharist, the disciples of the Lord, immersed in the redemptive sacrifice of Christ, proclaim that he is risen, that he is living and is the giver of life, and testify that his presence is grace, strength, and joy. Let us open our heart to his word and receive the gift of his presence!
All the liturgical texts this Sunday speak to us of faith, which is the foundation of all Christian life. Jesus had educated his disciples to grow in the faith, to believe and to increasingly trust in him, in order to construct their own life on rock.
That is why they asked of him: "Increase our faith" (Lk 17,5). It is a beautiful request that they addressed to the Lord - it is the fundamental request: the disciples did not ask for material gifts, they did not ask for privileges, but they asked for the grace of faith, which orients and illumines all of life.
They asked for the grace to know God and to be in intimate relationship with him, receiving from him all his gifts, including those of courage, of love, and of hope.
Without responding directly to their plea, Jesus resorted to a paradoxical image to express the incredible vitality of the faith.
G]Just as a lever can move much more than its own weight, so is faith - even a pinch of faith - able to achieve unthinkable and extraordinary things, such as uprooting a great tree and transplanting it in the sea (ibid.).
Faith - to trust in Christ, to welcome him, to let him transform us, to follow him to the very end - makes possible things that are humanly impossible, in every reality.
The prophet Habakuk bears witness to this, in the first Reading. He implores the Lord, from a terrible situation of violence, iniquity and suffering. Precisely in this difficult and uncertain situation, the prophet introduces us to a vision that offers a mirror of the plan that God has been tracing and executing in history: "The rash one has no integrity; but the just one, because of his faith, shall live" (Hab 2,4).
The ungodly, he who does not act according to God, trusts in his own power, but he is relying on a fragile and inconsistent reality, and therefore, he will fold down, he is destined to fall.
The righteous, on the other hand, relies on a hidden but solid reality - he trusts in God and therefore, he will have life.
In past centuries, the Church in Palermo has been enriched and inspired by a fervent faith which found its highest and most successful expression in her saints, both male and female.
I think of Saint Rosalia, whom you venerate and honor, and who, from Monte Pellegrino, watches over your city, of which she is the patroness; as well as two other great saints of Sicily, Agatha and Lucia.
Nor must it be forgotten that your religious sense has always inspired and oriented your family life, nourishing values such as the capacity to give and to be in fraternal solidarity with others, especially those who suffer, along with innate respect for life - all of which constitute a precious legacy to be guarded jealously and to be deployed even more in our time.
Dear friends, conserve this precious treasure of faith in your Church - and may these Christian values always guide your choices and your actions.
The second part of today's Gospel presents another teaching, one of humility, which is nonetheless closely linked to faith. Jesus asks us to be humble and cites the example of a servant who has worked in the fields.
When he returns home, the master asks him to work some more. According to the mentality in the time of Jesus, the master had every right to do this. The servant owed his master his complete availability. And the master did not feel obliged to him at all for having carried out the orders he received.
Jesus makes us aware that, in front of God, we find ourselves in a similar situation: We are servants of God. We are not his creditors, rather we are always his debtors because we owe him everything, because everything is a gift from him.
To accept and to do his will is the attitude that we must have every day, at every moment of our life. Before God, we must never present ourselves as someone who believes he has done and therefore merits a great reward.
This is an illusion that can arise in anyone, even in persons who work the most in service to our Lord, in the Church. We must, instead, be aware that, in fact, we never do enough for God.
We must say, as Jesus suggests: "We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do" (Lk 17,10). This is an attitude of humility which truly puts us in our place and allows the Lord to be very generous with us.
In fact, in another Gospel passage, he promises us that "he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them" (Lk 12,37).
Dear friends, if we do God's will every day, with humility, without presuming to claim anything from him, then Jesus himself will serve us, help us, encourage us, give us strength and serenity.
Even the apostle Paul, in the second reading today, speaks of faith. Timothy is asked to have faith, and through faith, to exercise charity. Paul exhorts his disciple to revive in faith even that gift of God that is in him through the imposition of hands by Paul, that is, the gift of ordination, which he received in order to carry out his apostolic ministry as a co-worker of Paul (cfr 2Tm 1,6).
He must never allow this gift to be extinguished but must always keep it alive through faith. And the Apostle adds: "For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control" (v.7).
Dear Palermitani and Sicilians: Your beautiful island was among the first regions in Italy to welcome the faith of the Apostles, to receive the announcement of the Word of God, to adhere to the faith so generously that even amid difficulties and persecutions, it has always germinated the flower of sanctity.
Sicily was and is a land of saints, from every situation in life, who lived the Gospel with simplicity and integrity. To you, the faithful laity, I repeat:
Do not be afraid to live and bear witness to your faith in the various sectors of society, in the multiple situations of human existence, especially in the most difficult.
Faith will give you the power of God so that you may always be trustful and courageous, to move ahead with new decisiveness, to take the necessary initiatives to give an ever more beautiful face to your land.
And when you encounter the world's opposition, listen to the words of the Apostle: "Do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord" (v.8).
We should be ashamed of of evil, of anything that offends God, of that which offends man. We should be ashamed of the evil that infects the civilian and religious communities through actions that cannot stand the light of day!
The temptation to be discouraged, to be resigned, comes to those who are weak in faith, to those who confuse evil with good, to those who think that in the face of evil, especially profound evil, nothing can be done.
On the contrary, he who is firmly founded in faith, who has full trust in God and lives within the Church, is capable of wielding the devastating power of the Gospel.
Thus did the saints live and act, those who flowered, in the course of centuries, here in Palermo and in all of Sicily, along with laymen and priests of our day who are well-known to you, as, for example, don Pino Puglisi.
May they watch over you collectively, and nourish in each of you the desire to proclaim, in word and deed, the presence and the love of Christ.
People of Sicily, look to your future with hope! Bring forth in all its light the goodness that you desire, that you seek and that you have! Live courageously the values of the Gospel in order to let the light of goodness shine. With the power of God, everything is possible.
May the Mother of Christ, the Virgin of Guidance, the Odigitria, who is so venerated by you, assist and lead you to profound knowledge of her Son. Amen.
Pope prays that rosary may fortify
the faithful in theological virtues
Palermo, Italy, Oct 3, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News).- At noon on Sunday, Pope Benedict prayed that all people might be strengthened in faith, hope and charity through the intercession of Mary. He asked, in particular, that she lead the faithful to "walk quickly and joyfully on the way of holiness."
Pope Benedict prayed the Angelus with an estimated 250,000 people present in Palermo, Sicily at the city's Foro Italico park during his pastoral visit there.
Widely present among the attendees were banners bearing images of Fr. Pino Puglisi, a much-loved priest who was killed in Palermo by the Mafia in 1993.
Recalling the island's strong Marian devotion, Pope Benedict entrusted all Sicilian faithful to the Virgin Mary before the Angelus.
He especially asked Our Lady to support families in love and educational commitment, to make the "seeds" of vocations fruitful among young people and to give people "courage in trials, hope in difficulties and renewed impetus to do good.
"May the Madonna comfort the sick and all the suffering," he continued praying, "and help Christian communities so that no person be marginalized or in need, but that each, especially the smallest and weakest, might feel accepted and valued."
Mary, said the Pope, "is the model of Christian life" to whom "we ask most of all to help us walk quickly and joyfully on the way of holiness, in the footsteps of so many brilliant witnesses of Christ, children of the Sicilian lands."
Remembering the concurrent celebration of the beatification of Anna Maria Adorni in Parma, Italy, today, Benedict XVI cited her devotion to saying the rosary.
And in the Marian month of October, the Holy Father prayed that the "daily meditation of the mysteries of Christ in union with Mary, the 'praying Virgin', might fortify us all in faith, hope and charity."
Here is a full translation of the Holy Father's remarks before the Angelus prayers:
Dear brothers and sisters:
At this moment of profound communion with Christ, who is present and living in our midst and within us, it is a beautiful thing to address ourselves as an ecclesial family to His Mother and ours, the Most Blessed Mary Immaculate.
Sicily is constellated with Marian shrines, and from this place, I feel myself spiritually in the center of this 'network' of devotion which unites all the cities and towns of the island.
To the Virgin Mary, I wish to entrust all the People of God who live on this beloved land. May she sustain families in love and in the educational challenge. May she make fruitful the seeds of vocation that God sows broadly among the young. May she instill courage in trials, hope in difficulties, and a new impulse to do good.
May Our Mother comfort the sick and all who suffer, and help the Christian communities so that no one shall be marginalized or needy, but that each one, especially the least and the weakest, may feel welcome and valued.
Mary is the model of Christian life. From her I ask most of all to let you journey joyfully on the road to sanctity, in the steps of so many luminous witnesses to Christ, who are children of the Sicilian soil.
In this context, I wish to remind you that today, in Parma, Anna Maria Adorni was proclaimed Blessed. In the 19th century, she was an exemplary wife and mother, and later, as a widow, she dedicated herself to charity towards women in prison and in other difficulties, for whom she founded two religious institutes.
Mother Adorni, because of her constant prayer, was called the 'living rosary', and I am happy to point to this at the start of the month dedicated to the Holy Rosary.
May the daily meditation of the mysteries of Christ in union with Mary, the prayerful virgin, fortify us all in faith, in hope and in charity.
After Mass, the Pope proceeded by Popemobile to the Archbishop's Palace to lunch with the bishops of Sicily and for a midday rest.
At 4:30 p.m., before leaving the Archbishop's Palace, the Holy Father greeted the organizers of the visit.
The Pope then left the Archbishop's Palace and walked to the Cathedral of the Assumption, for a meeting with priests, religious, and seminarians. He was welcomed to the cathedral by its canons.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 05/10/2010 05:03] |