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BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

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28/05/2009 15:05
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Here's a story to go with the photo taken after the GA yesterday in the above post and the one below:



THE POPE AND LADY THATCHER
by Nick Pisa

May 28, 2009




In her heyday she would probably have given him some stern advice on how to run the Vatican. But yesterday Baroness Thatcher was happy to exchange pleasantries with Pope Benedict XVI.

The 83-year-old former Prime Minister, who met both Benedict's predecessors, visited St Peter's Basilica as the highlight of a week-long holiday at the Roman villa of Lady Carla Powell, whose husband Charles used to advise her on foreign policy.


Lady Thatcher, 83, braved the heat of strong sunshine to await the Pope's arrival, standing in the front row of the crowds outside St Peter's Basilica.

She was accompanied by friend and historian Paul Johnson, known for his conservative Catholic views, and Catholic convert Charles Moore, former editor of the Daily Telegraph, who is writing a biography on Baroness Thatcher.

Moore has described an earlier meeting when the Pope was plain Cardinal Ratzinger. He wrote about how he was struck by 'his embarrassing courtesy. I handed him an article I had written about becoming a Catholic, assuming he would put it "on file". Instead he read the whole thing right through as I sat before him.'

Paul Johnson is a British Roman Catholic journalist, historian, speechwriter and author. Johnson first came to prominence in the 1950s as a journalist writing for, and later editing, the New Statesman magazine.

He announced in the New Statesman earlier this month that he was escorting Baroness Thatcher to the Vatican.

He said: 'Of all the Popes I’ve known since Pius XII (who died in 1958), Benedict XVI is the most difficult to see. He is a hands-on boss, running an enormous machine, and only sees visitors when there is real business to be done.'

Lady Thatcher listened intently as Pope Benedict gave a sermon on St Theodore the Studite, a medieval monk known for his the love of hard work - a virtue also attributed to the former premier who was renowned for the long hours she put in during 11 years in office.

Afterwards the Pontiff was introduced to Baroness Thatcher who, as protocol dictates, was dressed in black with a matching mantilla, and the two shook hands warmly.

They spoke for several minutes. Mr Moore held an umbrella over her to shade her from the sun as she spoke to the Pope.

Lady Powell said: ‘She was delighted to meet the Pope and the two had a private conversation.

‘She is 83 years old, but is a real icon. I organised her holiday here and the visit to the Vatican and she has had a wonderful time.’

Lady Thatcher's health has deteriorated since she suffered a series of minor strokes in 2002, but she remains active.

Before meeting the Pope, Lady Thatcher, the daughter of a Methodist minister, laid a wreath of white roses on the tomb of Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, in the crypt below St Peter's - a man she admired greatly, particular for his stance against Communism, and whom she had met twice.

She had also met Pope Paul VI when she was leader of the Opposition in 1977.

5/29/09

P.S. An item in the UK Daily Telegraph on the meeting says this in its second paragraph:

They talked for several minutes and Lady Thatcher encouraged the Pope to accept the invitation from Gordon Brown to visit Britain. The first Pope to visit Britain was John Paul II who came in 1982 at the time of the Falklands War.





A few days earlier, as noted in this thread's daily 'almanac' entry for May 25, the Holy Father met at the Vatican with another eminent lady, the oldest living Nobel Prize winner. As she is an Italian Jew, the news item comes from a Jewish news agency:


OPOPE AND THE NOBEL PRIZE LAUREATE



ROME, May 27 (JTA) -- Pope Benedict XVI held a private audience at the Vatican with a Jewish Nobel Prize-winning scientist who last month turned 100 years old.

The Vatican press office said the Pontiff's meeting with Rita Levi Montalcini took place Monday but did not provide further details.


Levi Montalcini at her 100th birthday party last month.

Levi Montalcini, a neurobiologist, is the oldest living Nobel Prize winner. She and colleague Stanley Cohen received the prize in medicine in 1986 for their discovery of nerve growth factor.

Born in Turin, Levi Montalcini suffered persecution under fascist Italy's anti-Semitic laws. She lived in the United States for decades after World War II before returning to Italy. In 2001, she was named an Italian Senator for Life, one of Italy's highest civilian awards. She is also a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and directs a foundation that helps African women.

[I really tried to find a picture of the meeting with the Pope from the Vatican's photo catalog and after scrolling through 260-plus pages of thumbnails and finally getting to May 25 [there is no provision on that site to sarch by date - and the Montecassino pictures aloen covered the first 260 pages or so], I still could not find one. Frankly, I did not have the time - nor the patience - to go on looking.]


[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/05/2009 10:47]
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