THE POPE GETS 'GOLDEN BOOK'
OF SUPPORT MESSAGES
Remember the online petitions in support of the Pope soon after the Williamson brouhaha in the media? A picture posted by Flo in the PRF and a link she provided led me to the story below, translated from
Then, going to the sites of the 'movers', I was able to get a few more pictures from their Facebook entries.
As announced on February 25 on the site
benoitjaiconfianceentoi.org,
Pope Benedict personally received on April 22, after the General Audience, all the messages collected in three months by
benoîtjaiconfiancenetoi,
soutienàbenoitXVI, tHEe Confédération des Associations Familiales Catholiques, and tHE 30 Facebook groups that came together for the April 19 Benoithon.
The book presented to the Pope contained more than 120,000 messages of affection, support and loyalty for the him in the face of the violent media campaign against him in particular and the Church in general after he lifted the ecommunication of the four bishops of the FSSPX.
At the initiative of Frigide Barjot (a comedian who started the initiative
Touche pas a mon Pape) and Antoine Picard d’Estelan (representing
Transept, a collective of various Catholic lay organizations in Paris, numerous messages, photos and commentaries, along with the lists of signatories, were put together into a 'golden book' handed to the Pope, thanks to the facilitation of one of the members of
benoîtjaiconfiancenetoi, Pierre-Marie de Berny, president of the association Unitas.
"What wonderful news!", the Pope exclaimed, visibly enthused about the mobilization. He was accompanied by the Bishop of Toulon-Frejus, and spent some time greeting the various French communities and parishes who attended this General Audience.
They responded to him with chanting, “Saint-Père, la France vous aime!” and “Benoît, Benoît, on a confiance en toi!”
The following pictures are from the Benoithon venue in front of Notre Dame de Paris on April 19:
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 04/05/2009 04:51]