I wish I could have illustrated the OR coverage of the Pope's visit with appropriate photos from the OR itself, but you saw all they had in the presentation of the 3/14-3/15 issue in the earlier post, and there is not much I can do with them because of the poor technical quality... Here is the OR's wrap-up article on the visit, which contains a few interesting details not found in the regular news reports, as well as a significant excerpt of what the Pope told the bishops of Tuscany after the lunch he had with them) and its front-page editorial...
In Tuscany, the Pope gives new vigor to
the old but always new experience of faith
among a people who have always looked forward
by Mario Ponzi
Translated from the 3/14-3/15 issue of
In his invitation to counteract 'the temptation to be discouraged' and for each one to make his own contribution "to that ethical and spiritual renewal of society' that can help bring about an improvement in living conditions, one sees the closeness that Benedict XVI feels for Italy and her people.
A closeness and a deep concern that the Pope expressed on Sunday in Arezzo, city of gold, a land permeated by the spirituality of its monasteries - some millenary, like Camaldoli, set in the luxuriant Apennine forest.
Benedict's visit to this corner of Tuscany, long awaited and prepared for with care and love, was an occasion for intense reflection on social issues.
In order to face the complex circumstances that Italy is undergoing at present, the Pope said, essentially, that it is necessary to re-think the relationship between political life and ecclesial commitment, between a culture in constant ferment and the legacy of an illustrious history that deserves to be remembered.
The appeal went straight to the heart of a people - the Aretini (citizens of Arezzo) - who have always reconciled secularity with the Catholic faith, and who, in the course of centuries, have always decided to be protagonists in their own future.
Arezzo, a city that is intelligent, dynamic, imaginative, and proud but always open to spiritual values, readily accepted the challenge.
Listening to the Pope's homily in the front row was Prime Minister Monti, with his wife, in that great Church in the open into which the Prato park of Arezzo had been transformed for the morning.
A more direct explanation of the Pope's thinking came in the few but deeply felt words of thanks at the end of the luncheon in the Bishop's Palace with the bishops of Tuscany.
Thanking Archbishop Riccardo Fontana for his gift of a book about the saints and martyrs of Tuscany, the Pope stressed the power demonstrated by the saints in their service of love to God and his Church, a Church made up of men.
He continued:
But the saints are not a thing of the past. They are among us, and one can see this in the vitality of the Church. The Church is always the Church of saints. But we are more used to more easily see the sinners rather than the saints among us. But it is time to think that there are saints among us today, and that they are in the majority.
These visits are, for me, always very important because they allow me to see, to my great consolation, the saints today who are simple people but great ones.I am able to see that even today, the Church is rich with men and women who think and work for the poor, who truly wield a spiritual power without which no society can survive. We are truly the salt of the earth. We say this with humility, but it is true that the Catholic Church, with the presence of the Lord, with her saints, continues to give the power of God's light to society and to the world. We must continue to do so".
It was a vibrant appeal to the ecclesial community, to continue to be - and more so at this time of great difficulty - a sign of God's love among those who are suffering most. To help them not to lose heart, even in time of trial.
Although this took place during a fraternal meal, it was one of the most significant moments in a Sunday that of intense experiences, which however, held a great disappointment for the Holy Father.
Bad weather kept him from being able to return and breathe the spirit of St. Francis once more in the mountain shrine of La Verna. He had specially desired ti visit La Verna on this his first visit as Pope to Tuscany.
And had hoped until the very last to do so, as the meteorologists of Italy's Miltiary Aeronautics [which owns the helicopter in which the Pope flies] considered all possible airlanes into La Verna, but the mountain was wrapped in dense fog that it was not safe even to attempt it.
This was the only 'blemish' on a visit that was prepared for with typical Tuscan industry even in the least details: the city was dressed up for the occasion, the roads were marked with color bands to indicate the shortest way to get to the points where the Popemobile would pass through windows along the route were hung with flags and standards using fabric woven especially for the visit, and there were celebratory children everywhere.
The feast began as soon as the Pope stepped off the helicopter that had brought him from Rome. Welcoming him, alongside Mons. Fontana, was Prime Minister Monti, along with a rank of civi,ian and religious authorities, including the Apostolic Nuncio to Italy, Mons. Adriano Berardini; the Italian ambassador to the Holy See, Francesco Greco; the presidents of the Tuscany region and the pronvice of Arezzo, Enrico Rossi and Roberto Vasai,r espectively; and the mayor of Arezzo, Saverio Ordine.
The bishops of Tuscany were represented by Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, Archbishop of Florence and president on the Tuscan bishops' conference.
Present at the Mass besides the officials mentioned were the vice presidents of the Italian Senate and Chamber of Deputies, Vannino Chiti and Rosy Bindi, respectively, who are both from Tuscany.
Hundreds of banners and placards wree held up along the Popemobile route towards the Prato park where the Mass was held. A special banner at the improvised heliport read: "The parish of Sacro Cuore praye vigilantly", from the home parish of Domenico Gianai, head of the Vatican Gendarmerie, who comes from Arezzo.
At the Prato, lengthy applause and acclamations greeted the Pope. Before the Mass, there was a short program when the mayor welcomed the Pope in the name of the people and Mons. Fontana followed, saying the city opened its heart to Benedict XVI.
The altar stage was simple but original, adorned with a great floral 'frontal' mae of white roses and yellow gerberas, upon which was a pentagram showing the first notes of Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' from the Ninth Symphony.
Concelebrating with the Pope were Cardinal Betori, Mons. Fontana and the other Tuscan bishops, and members of the Pope's entourage including Archbishop Angelo Becciu, deputy Secretary of State; Mons, james Harvey, preect of the Pontifical Household and his regent, Mons Nicolo; and Mons Georg agenswein, the Pope's secretary.
After the Mass, the Pope visited the Cathedral of San Donato for a private visit. Welcoming him to the church were the canons of the cathedral, the Carmelites of Santa Margehrita Redi convent, and two 12-year-olds, Giada Santucci and Matteo Tavini, from Arezzo's city choir.
While Benedict prayed before the miraculous image of the Madonna della Conforto, the two children sang Petrarch's hymn of praise to the Madonna, 'Bella che del sol vestita" (Beauty clothed by the sun) set to 17th century music. Benedict XVI thanked the children emotionally for their moving performance.
The day was rich with emotions for the Pope. As when the members of Arezzo's 'corteo historico' (historical pageant) put on a display for him beneath the windows of the bishop's palace.
It was an affectionate tribute from the historic heart of Arezzo, which the Pope did not fail to acknowledge in th words that he spoke to them after a performance by the flag-jugglers, who were judged the best in Europe at a recent competition.
Dearest friends,
I thank you from the heart for this beautiful presentation of your great Renaissance culture which has truly touche me deeply.
Whoever is capable of rendering present in such a perfect manner the culture of the past is also able to open culture to the future because he knows man and he loves man, whose greatest dignity is not just by being man but because he is the image of God.
This dignity of man places an obligation on us, but it also comforts and encourages us. If we are truly in the image of God, then we must also be capable of going forward and to overcome the problems of the present and open the way for a new future.
I thank you from the heart for all this. May the Lord Bless you... Thank you. These sounds will be unforgettable for me.
When it became clear that the ehlicopter trip to La Verna was not possible because of the dense fog and bad weather around the mountain shrine, the Pope sdet off directly for Sansepolcor, which was to have been the third stop on the pastoral visit.
In Sansepolcro, he joined the town's celebraiton of the 100th anniversary of the community founded by two pilgrims returning from the Holy Land in 1012 as a 'new Jerusalem' on the banks of the upper Tiber River.
First, the Pope made a private visit to the diocesanco-cathedral dedicated to St. John the Evangelist to pray before the 'Volto Santo' (Holy Face), the oldest known wooden sculpture in Europe that depicts the crucified Christ.
He the proceeded to the Piazza di Torre Berta to meet the townspeople led by Mayor Daniela Frullani, where he got an enthusiastic reception despite the bad weather.
There were numerous gifts for the Pope. Among the most significant, a unique reproduction of a mosaic designed by Leonardo da Vinci, and some splendid miniatures.
After the meeting - and his powerful discourse about the civic responsibility of Catholic laymen to become involved in political life - the Pope headed back to Rome bearing precious new memories with him, but also the lingering disappointment of failing to get to the Franciscan shrine at La Verna.
The Pope in Tuscany:
Words stronger than the storm
Editorial
by Carlo Di Cicco
Translated from the 3/14-3/15 issue of
The words of Benedict XVI were more powerful than the bad weather which kept him from returning as Pope to La Verna, shrine of Franciscan mysticism, where he was to have delivered words on the spirit of Christian living, that are specially important at a time when Catholics are called on to involve themselves in the secular world afflicted today by crisis and discouragement.
Arezzo and Sansepolcro, the two stops of Benedict XVI's 27th pastoral visit in Italy, along with La Verna - which proved inaccessible due to impenetrable fog on the mountain - only seem apparently unrelated, but they really constitute an itinerary on why and how to be Christians in the service of the common good of society.
In order for this to be true, the Pontiff's message was that one must be able to spiritually ascend to La Verna, listen to the Word of God, and then descend to the veryday world transformed ready to serve not self-interest but the needs of others, especially the poorest and weakest.
To do good for everyone, he said, to promote 'cities that have an ever more human face', cannot be achieved "with purely materialistic logic". An ethical shake-up is always necessary, but especially now.
Even believers cannot succeed if all they have is words, or 'do good' without conforming their lives to Christ, following the exmaple of St. Francis.
The Pope said that the heart of the pilgrim's experience in La Verna is in fact, to follow Christ seekign to imitate him and conform oneself to him.
In Sansepolcro, Benedict XVI recalled the founders of the city who, returning from Jerusalem, founded a city tin which the disciples of Christ are called on to be the motor of society in promoting peace through the practice of justice.
This is an objective that is possible only if man has his eyes and heart fixed on God, who does not alienate him from daily life, buoreints him and makes him live it even more intensely.
But God does not wish to stay on the heights as at La Verna. Rather he comes down to man in the cities and towns where they live. And the Pope addresses himself to Christians who make their presence felt in society, who are enterprising but consistent with their faith.
Not so much as social or political activists but as the bearers of the hope that does not disappoint, a hope based on the resurrection of Jesus, historicized as fraternal love towards everyone, near and far.
This is an intimate theological conviction of Joseph Ratzinger which emerged powerfully in his meetings with the communities of Arezzo and Sansepolcro. One that he sees alive even today, as it was, most fruitfully, during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. when to be Christian had a meaning and Christians were the 'salt of the earth'. If they cease to be such, renouncing their diversity, then they become superfluous like salt that has lost its taste and is cast away.
That is why, despite all trials and difficulties, Benedict XVI remains optimistic for the Church, which God sees to it that there is no lack of saints, of good Samaritans, of Christians who will be friends to all especially in difficult historical times.
The Pope was obviously very disappointed that he had to cancel his pilgrimage to La Verna, the emblematic Franciscan experience that dramatizes Francis's absorbing model of Christianity.
How many pilgrims have gone up to La Verna in search of God "who is the reason why the Church exists - to be the bridge between man and God".
And finally, an encouragement to all Italy - that the Pope also expressed in his brief encounter at Arezzo with Prime Minister Mario Monti - and especially to young people, that they must 'learn to dare', ready to give a 'new flavor' to all of society with the salt of honesty and disinterested altruism'.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 16/05/2012 15:32]