Pope meets President Napolitano
before tribute concert and awards
papal knighthood to conductor Muti
May 12, 2012
Pope Benedict XVI attended a concert yesterday evening in the Paul VI Hall here at the Vatican, offered by the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, to honor the Holy Father on the seventh anniversary of his election as Pope.
The President also presented the Pope with a prestigious violin and an antique score to a
Missa solemnis by Zimmerman, a German composer from the first half of the 19th century.
[Sorry I can't find more about the composer for now.]
[Also present for the concert were Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and his wife. It was the first time the head of the Italian government has attended this annual concert tribute offered by the President of Italy for the Pope. Neither of his two predecessors, Romano Prodi and Silvio Berlusconi, did.]
The concert Friday evening featured sacred music by the Italian composers Antonio Vivaldi and Giuseppe Verdi.
Speaking at the end of the concert, Pope Benedict thanked President Napolitano, the featured soloists, the orchestra and chorus of the Rome Opera, and Maestro Riccardo Muti – whom Benedict decorated with a Papal knighthood: the Grand Cross of St Gregory the Great - and all those who had a part in organizing the event.
“Let us pray,” said Pope Benedict, that, after hearing the evening’s music, “we might be able ourselves to say to God: ‘In you, O Lord, I place with joy my hope. Make it so that I might love you as your Holy Mother, so that my soul, at the end of the journey, might be given the glory of Paradise’.”
The concert followed a private meeting between the Pope and the President.
Vatican Press Office director Fr Federico Lombardi SJ said the meeting lasted 20 minutes, during which they expressed a common concern for peace, with particular reference to the situation in the Middle East.
The Holy Father expressed his personal gratitude to the President for the concert given in his honour, and expressed anew his love for Italy and his closeness to all citizens of the Republic, assuring the President of his continuing prayers in this difficult and challenging time for the country.
Photos of the event released by the news agencies were more woefully unrepresentative than usual - no photos pf the meeting beteen the Pope and the Preisdnet before the concernt, nor of the Pope presenting the papal knighthood to Muti, nor of the Pope greeting the performers and deliering his post-concert remarks: