Father Lombardi's briefing on WYD Rio:
A sense ef anticipation
for the Latin American Pope's
first 'homecoming'
July 17, 2013 –
In a press conference held Wednesday morning, the director of the Holy See Press Office, Federico Lombardi S.J., presented information on Pope Francis's imminent apostolic visit to Rio de Janeiro for the 28th World Youth Day.
Fr. Lombardi reviewed the Holy Father's program for the week he will spend in Brazil, explaining that this journey is “particularly significant in his continent, and this naturally lends it a particular sense of anticipation and participation”.
“As we know”, Fr. Lombardi continued, “it was not his decision to make his first trip to Latin America,
[What a strange way to put it! But then, much of what Lombardi says in the statements quoted from him seems very strange!] but rather it was his predecessor Benedict XVI who had confirmed that World Youth Day would be held in Brazil, and had confirmed that 'the Pope' would be present, as at all the World Youth Days, even though the Pope in this case would not have been him.
"Therefore, Pope Francis is assuming the legacy of Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate in making this trip.
[The way Fr. Lombardi is quoted, one wpuld think Pope Francis was simply 'forced' to honor a commitment made by Benedict XVI!] You will recall that practically the same thing happened at the last change of pontificate: Benedict XVI's first trip was to Germany, his homeland, to Cologne for the World Youth Day decided by his predecessor John Paul II”.
“The trip [to Brazil] had already been decided but the programme has also been adapted, we might indeed sa,y intensified and enriched with further events with the change of pontificate. The plan that had been drawn up for Pope Benedict XVI was less demanding, whereas with Pope Francis, some elements have been added, such as the pilgrimage to Aparecida, or the visit to the favelas, to the hospital, the meeting with the Comite de Celam.
"There are elements which were not scheduled in the first programme for the trip, intended for Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Francis has maintained the same nhmber of days – that is, the trip was expected to take place from 22 to 29 July even before the change of pontificate – but more events have been planned for this period, especially the pilgrimage to Aparecida which will occupy a day that had in the previous draft program been intended as a day of rest.
“Of course, the Holy Father was invited by the bishops who organised and promoted the World Youth Day”, added Fr. Lombardi," Orani Tempesti, archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, and Cardinal Damasceno Assis, president of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, and naturally also by the president Dilma Rousseff, who came to the Vatican for the inauguration of the pontificate and who met Francis the following day, explicitly inviting him to Brazil. The Pope confirmed immediately, just a few days after his election, that he intended to travel to Brazil for World Youth Day, and this helped to speed up preparations”.
The Vatican Radio report is obviously and inexplicably quite incomplete. A CBS story is far more complete:
Pope on the road:
Vatican does detailed planning
but expects surprises
by Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY, July 17, 2013 (CNS) - While Pope Francis's July 22-28 visit to Brazil has been planned almost down to the minute, the papal spokesman is certain it will be "a bit of an adventure."
The main events of World Youth Day are the same as they have been for years, but Pope Francis "is full of surprises," said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi.
Briefing journalists July 17 about what to expect in Brazil, Father Lombardi had a thick red-bound tome of Mass texts and other prayers, the Pope's official schedule as released May 7 and a more detailed schedule complete with little icons of airplanes, cars, helicopters, popemobiles and a liturgically vested walking pope.
The icons provide a quick visual clue as to how the pope will move. For example, the little car illustrates his arrival July 25 at the Varginha sector of the Manguinhos complex of slums. He'll begin in the neighborhood church (there's an icon for that), then walk along the neighborhood streets. He is likely to encounter a family and visit their home. Then he will continue walking to the soccer field, where he)0 ){ will address the entire community.
Plans for a papal trip to Rio de Janeiro were begun under Pope Benedict XVI. The dates of Pope Francis's trip are the same, Father Lombardi said, but he has scrapped one day of rest and added several events: a visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida; a visit to a hospital that serves the poor and those recovering from addiction; the visit to the slums; and a meeting with the coordinating committee of the Latin American bishops' council, CELAM.
[Necessary rejoinders to the above:
1) The visit to Aparecida is a personal thing for Pope Francis, who is a Marian devotee. Pope Benedict would not have added Aparecida if he were still Pope, because he already visited Aparecida during his apostolic trip to Brazil in 2007, having chosen it himself personally in 2005 as the site for the V Conference of Latin American and Caribbean Bishops, originally supposed to be held in Rome when it was planned in the latter years of John Paul II's life. Benedict's choice of Aparecida was a great surprise to the Latin American bishops themselves.
2) The hospital-cum-rehab-center to be visited by Pope Francis happens to be run by his order, the Jesuits, which appears to be the main reason the visit was added to the program. When Benedict XVI was in Madrid for WYD in 2011, he visited a diocesan facility for handicapped children, an activity that was not tied to the WYD program. And when he visited Brazil in 2007, he travelled to Brazil's major rehab center for drug addicts in Guaratinga, in what was one of the most moving events of that visit.
3) A visit to the 'slums' was always mentioned in the early reporting on Benedict XVI's possible itinerary in Rio for WYD, recalling John Paul II's visit to a Rio favela in 1980. Of course, in the case of Francis, his visit would sort of recapitulate his dedication while Archbishop of Buenos Aires to minister to the slum population, not just sending more priests to them, but spending time in the poor neighborhoods to say Mass and celebrate the sacraments, as well as visiting homes.
4) About 'scrapping a day of rest', I noted when the program for Pope Francis was first announced - already including the visit to Apreecida the day before he formally joins the WYD celebration, that there was more time scheduled for his jet lag readjustment than there was for Benedict XVI when he travelled to Mexico last year. [
The news release [on the Pope's program in Brazil] does not say so, but no events are scheduled for Tuesday, July 23, Pope Francis;s first full day in Brazil. [On the day of his arrival, the only event obviously is the airport welcome ceremony.] The 36-hour rest for Pope Francis is similar to the 24-hour period between Benedict XVI's arrival in Mexico last March and his first official event after the airport welcome. The interval provides not just a rest period after a transcontinental flight but also allows the Pope's biorhythm to adjust itself to a different time zone. When Benedict XVI travelled to Sydney in 2008, he required a three-day adjustment period.
Father Lombardi said Pope Francis probably will add a speech to an already planned lunch meeting July 27 with the cardinals of Brazil and bishops from Rio and the surrounding region.
One thing the Pope will not be doing, he said, is giving a news conference during his 12-hour flight to Rio July 22, although he does plan to personally greet each of the 71 media representatives on board.
No matter who is traveling, choosing what to take on a trip is a detail that must be dealt with. The pope's biggest pieces of luggage have four wheels and an engine: the popemobile. Usually Vatican officials or Vatican security take care of choosing the papal transport, but Father Lombardi said Pope Francis insisted that he will not ride through the crowds in Rio, isolated in a bullet-proof, bubble-top set of wheels.
The Brazilian air force helped Pope Francis by hauling two vehicles from the Vatican: a white popemobile with an overarching windshield, but open on the sides, and a very military looking green jeep, which Father Lombardi says is only a reserve vehicle so it "wasn't painted for the occasion."
The amount of money spent on papal trips is always a question but has garnered even more attention this time since it is the first foreign trip of Pope Francis, who embraces simplicity and encourages others to do likewise.
"For 30 years, people have been raising the question of the costs" of papal trips, Father Lombardi said. He encouraged people to keep two things in mind: first, that most citizens of Brazil are pleased about the trip and second, "the costs associated with these visits are payments made to people who are working or provide a service," which benefits the local economy. "It's not like the money is being thrown out the window."
The Brazilian newspaper
Folha estimated July 16 that the cost of World Youth Day in Rio would be between $142 million and $155 million.
Sao Paulo Cardinal Odilo Scherer told reporters that those figures represent the costs of the entire event, not just the pope's visit, and that much of the cost is being covered by sponsors and by the youths who have registered and paid to attend. In addition, he said, the event must be seen as an "investment in young people."
[What is not pointed out here is the fallout to the local economy of the WYD events. In 2011, the Spanish shamber of Commeerce estimated that local business earned some $250 million during the weeklong WYD in Madrid - far more than total costs for the event which were largely defrayed by corporate contributions and the registration fees of those who attended. .]
On another simplicity-related question, Father Lombardi denied media reports that Pope Francis had asked Alitalia -- the airline flying him to Rio -- not to reconfigure the plane for him and, specifically, not to install a bed for him.
The Vatican spokesman said: "The plane is what it is. The seats are what they are. The pope will be in the front, except when he is with you," he told reporters. "Nothing special has been done." It has been years since an airline installed a bed for a pope, he said, because most first-class seats on long-haul flights fold down almost flat.
Pope Francis isn't the only one making changes here and there. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has invited all of the presidents of Latin American countries to join their pilgrims in Rio. Father Lombardi said he did not know how many have accepted the invitation, but if some show up, it would likely be for the July 28 closing Mass.
Newspapers already are talking about as many as 3 million people attending the liturgy.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 18/07/2013 10:43]