00 17/05/2009 15:50




May 17

ST. PASCUAL BAYLON (Spain, 1540-1592)
Franciscan tertiary and mystic
'Seraph of the Eucharist'



OR today.

The Holy Father at the Grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
At the end of his Holy Land pilgrimage, Benedict XVI says inter-religious dialog is an exigency of faith and that
'In the Holy Land a desire for peace above and beyond the difficulties'
(The Vatican provides the text of the Pope's statement to newsmen on the flight back to Rome from Tel Aviv.)

Other Page 1 stories: An editorial commentary on the risk of zero-tax policy; and ruling Indian coalition led by Sonia Gandhi's
Congress Party wins legislative elections over rightist nationalist party. There's an inside-page story on the children's book
MAX E BENEDETTO on what Max the sparrow says about what exactly does the Pope do all day! (Left photo is of the Pope at
the Caritas Baby Hospital in Bethlehem).



THE POPE'S DAY
'Regina caeli' at St. Peter's Square- The Holy Father speaks about his recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land
and makes a special appeal for the belligerents in Sri Lanka to lay down their arms.
[How surprising that after such an intensive trip abroad, the Holy Father is not 'recovering' at Castel Gandolfo!]



A wonderful image from the inside pages of the OR today:
(I hope it is available soon in a larger format -
I can't enlarge the thumbnail further).



The Holy Father prays before Chrit's tomb in Jerusalem.