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APOSTOLIC VISIT TO THE CZECH REPUBLIC, Sept 26-28, 2009

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APOSTOLIC VISIT OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

TO THE CZECH REPUBLIC

September 26-28, 2009




PROGRAM


Saturday, September 26

ROME

09.20 Departure for Prague from Ciampino airport.

PRAGUE

11.30 WELCOME CEREMONY at International Airport of Stará Ruzyně
- Address by the Holy Father.

12.30 VISIT TO TBE INFANT JESUS OF PRAGE
Church of St. Mary, Prague
- Greeting by the Holy Father

16.30 COURTESY VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC
Presidential Palace.

17.00 MEETING WITH CZECH POLITICAL AND CIVILIAN AUTHORITIES
AND THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS
Presidential Palace.
- Address of the Holy Father.

18.00 CELEBRATION OF VESPERS WITH PRIESTS, RELIGIOUS, SEMINARIANS
AND LAY MOVEMENTS
Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslas and Adalbert.
- Address by the Holy Father.


Sunday, September 27

PRAGUE

08.45 Departure from the International Airport of Prague for Brno.


BRNO

09.20 Arrival at Turany Airport in Brno.

10.00 HOLY MASS at Turany Airport.
- Homily by the Holy Father.

ANGELUS
- Words by the Holy Father.

12.45 Departure from Brno airport for Prague.


PRAGUE

13.20 Arrival at the international airport.

17.15 ECUMENICAL MEETING
Throne Room, Archbishop's Palace
- Address by the Holy Father

18.00 MEETING WITH THE ACADEMIC WORLD
Vladislaw Hall, Prague Castle
- Address by the Holy Father


Monday, September 28

STARA BOLESLAW

08.50 Visit to the Church of St. Wenceslas

09.45 HOLY MASS
for the Feast of St. Wenceslas, Patron of the Czech Republic
Melnik Esplanade
- Homily by the Holy Father
ENCOUNTER WITH CHECH YOUTH
Melnik Esplanade
- Address by the Holy Father


PRAGUE

13.15 Lunch with the bishops of the Czech Republic and the papal entourage
Archbishop's Palace, Prague.

16.45 Farewell, Apostolic Nunciature of Prague


17.15 DEPARTURE CEREMONY
Stará Ruzyně International Airport
- Address by the Holy Father

17.45 Departure for Rome


ROME

19.50 Arrival at Ciampino airport.


NB: Italy and the Czech Republic are in the same time zone.



The Vatican released the final program for the Czech visit on 7/3/09.





May 1, 2009

CZECH PAPAL VISIT SITE
ALREADY ONLINE


The Czech bishops conference has opened an English-language site for the papal visit in September.

www.navstevapapeze.cz/

Although no official announcement has been made, the site banner indicates that the Pope will be visiting Prague, Brno and Stara Boleslaw.

All the material posted here today comes from the site.
[My thanks to Maklara who is keeping us abreast of the preparations in Prague.]


ABOUT THE MOTTO AND LOGO



The motto and logo of the papal visit express its theme and spirit, as well as the general Christian attitude.

The motto is: 'Love of Christ is our strength'.

Christianity doesn't push itself by power, it doesn't struggle for gaining dominance over anyone. It respects the freedom of every person, but it is strong and firm, in trying to win over evil through the power of love.

The logo expresses that we are bearers of the tradition of Prince Wenceslaus (represented by the heraldic symbol of the eagle), patron saint of the Czech nation, who promoted Christian values.

We stand by his flag as a sign of our nation's spiritual life. The flag's spear is directed upwards, to permanent values and noble aims, and it bears the colours of the Czech Republic (blue - red - white) and of the Vatican (gold - white), because the journey is also a state visit, with the Czech nation welcoming one of the most important persons in the world, the leader of the Catholic Church.


THE COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL



The commemorative medal will be a present to VIP guests as well as a valuable souvenir for visitors. It is available in gold or silver (both 0.999 purity).

It was designed by Daniela Kartáková (born 1965), a well-known sculptor, conservator and medalist, who also designed the commemorative medal for John Paul II's 2005 visit to the Czech Republic. She also has a home in Carrara, Italy, site of one of the world's best marble quarries.

The front features a portrait of Benedict XVI with his Latin name, and the Vatican coat-of-arms. The back depicst St. Wenceslas, based on the Gothic statue of the saint by Petr Parléř in the Prague cathedral. The inscription gives the year of teh visit and the names of the three cities to be visited by the Pope.

More information on the medal is available at the website about the medal, www.medaile-benediktxvi.cz (CZ), where it may also be ordered.





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POPE OFFICIALLY ACCEPTS
TO VISIT CZECH REPUBLIC
ON SEPT. 26-28


May 30, 2009


The Vatican Press announced today that the Holy Father will be visiting the Czech Republic (Prague, Brno and Stara Bleslav) on Sept. 26-28, pre-announced earlier this month by the Czech bishops conference (CBK).

The Pope formally accepted the invitation of the Czech President and the CBK during an audience at the Vatican today with President Vaclav Klaus, his wife and delegation.







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Not the least of the writing tasks for the Holy Father during his current vacation are the drafts for the papal texts to be delivered when he visits the Czech Republic in September. By the same token, the Church in that country is deep in preparations for the Sept. 26-28 visit. The English service of Czech Radio has a situationer:


Preparations underway
for Pope's autumn visit

By Christian Falvey

July 15, 2009




2009 is a year of big visits for the Czech Republic. After receiving the new American president Barack Obama in April, the country is now preparing for another extremely important visitor: His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, who will be making several stops in the country over three days in September.

The papal visit from September 26 to 28 will be the first for the new pope, and preparations are already in full swing. Much of the program has been especially planned according to the Pontiff's wishes, during which he will visit the country’s main pilgrimage sites and other sites of particular interest to him.

Karel Štícha, from the office coordinating Pope Benedict’s visit, said: “The Pope will visit two important cities in the CR, first he will celebrate Holy Mass in Brno, which is the capital of Moravia, and then he will visit Stará Boleslav, a well-known city in Central Bohemia, and in this city, on the day of St. Wenceslas, he will celebrate Mass for the people from the region.”



Stará Boleslav is of huge significance to Czech Catholics as it marks the site where the patron St. Václav, a.k.a. Good King Wenceslas, was murdered by his younger brother, thus dying a martyr.

This stop on Pope Benedict’s tour of the country will be a major event, with 30,000 people tentatively expected, and thus a lot of the planning is focused on international transit to and from Stará Boleslav, as well as on many other areas.

“We are in the process of negotiation with the companies that are able to construct the structures necessary to prepare for Holy mass and we are also in the process of negotiating with the state authorities about cooperation on infrastructure and the logistical preparations and so on.”



Prague, of course, will not be off the Holy Father’s list of things to see. Here, he requested a special stop at the Church of Our Lady Victorious which houses the Infant of Prague, a statue of the infant Christ that is revered around the world. Father Petr Šleich heads the Carmelite Priory of the Infant Jesus of Prague*.

[The visit to the image is the Pope;s first event in Prague after the airport arrival ceremony.]

“It’s not an honour for the Infant Jesus of Prague to be visited by the Holy Father, but in this special case it’s an honour for the Holy Father to visit the little Jesus in this place which is so widely known and beloved by so many faithful on every continent today, and for centuries already.

"I think it is a great encouragement for all those Christian people in many countries who love this image of the little Jesus, they can see that the Church really appreciates their devotion, their trust in the little Jesus, and that they are not alone in this, that even the Pope himself shares their attitude.”

The Czech Republic is a famously non-religious country, with 59% of the population agnostic, atheist or non-denominational.

Nonetheless, the roughly 2.5 million Catholics in the country will doubtless be joined this autumn by their brethren from the neighbouring Catholic bastions of Slovakia and Poland and the Pope’s homeland of Germany.

The papal visit to the Czech Republic is sure to be a big one. John Paul II visited the Czech Republic three times. [He must have felt such concern for what had become of the once very Catholic Czechs after four decades of life under Communism.]






*I have had occasion to note a couple of times in the past how widespread is the devotion to the Infant Jesus in my country, the Philippines, where he is known as the 'Santo Nino', the Spanish words for Holy Child.

And therefore, for most Filipino Catholics who can afford to travel, Prague would rank among their first three pilgrimage choices after Rome and Lourdes, precisely for the Infant Jesus of Prague.

What I did not realize till now is that the original Santo Nino venerated by Filipinos is more than a century older than the image found in Prague, though both of them were made by Spanish artisans.

Indeed, our Santo Nino - a carved wooden statue barely 12 inches high - was a gift given by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 to the chieftain of the local tribe on Cebu, the Philippine island where he first went ashore.

The missionaraies with him managed to baptize this chieftain, his wife, and followers. The image was a gift to mark that baptism. However Magellan was eventually speared to death in an encounter with another tribe under a chieftain named Lapu-Lapu who resisted the foreigners.

The Spaniards did not return to the Philippines until 1565, and miraculously, they found the statue in a hut that had been burned during the fighting that preceded this actual colonization of the island. A church was built on the site where the statue was found, and the church has become the Minor Basilica of the Santo Nino de Cebu.

The Infant Jesus of Prague, on the other hand, was a gift to a Bohemian noblewoman from her Spanish mother. In 1648, the 19-inch-tall image was turned over to the Carmelites of the Church of Our Lady of Mary Victorious in Prague. However, it is thought that the statue may have been made as early as 1340.

In fact, the oldest continuing Santo Nino devotion is Spain's Santo Nino de Atocha (Madrid) commemorating miracles in the 13th century attributed to a little boy dressed as a pilgrim turning up to help Christians persecuted by Muslims.

The Santo Nino devotion has taken hold particularly in Latin America, and if the Philippines had not had its own older Santo Nino tradition, it would certainly have received it eventually during the three centuries of Spanish rule, when the cultural osmosis was mostly from Latin Amnerica (particularly Mexico) to the Philippines, rather than directly from Spain.

I have Googled the query but there does not seem to be any comparable Infant Jesus devotion in Germany, not even in Bavaria. The references mention St. Therese of the Child Jesus, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua, and St. Teresa of Avila as devotees of the Infant Jesus.



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Pope to speak Italian
and English during Czech visit



PRAGUE, July 22 (Translated from SIR) - There has been discussion over the language that Pope Benedict XVI will use when he visits the Czech Republic in September.

The news agency Kathpress said that the Pope has decided not to use German for any of his public events, and some quarters in the Czech media have questioned this.

The Czech portal idnes.cz quoted one of the Czech organizers for the papal trip as saying that the decision was made in the Vatican in view of delicate Czech-German relations at the moment.

Thus, the Pope will be using Italian and English when he speaks in public. However, he will be speaking in German with Czech President Vaclav Klaus during their meetings.

However,the liberal Prague newspaper Mlada fronta Dnes criticized the caution as unnecessary saying that friction between German and the Czech Republic has been dissipated by now.

It points out that German politicians, including Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Horst Koehler have not hesitated to use German even when visiting Israel.

In an editorial, the newspaper said that by speaking German when he comes to visit, the Pope would confirm that the 'dark days' are over.



Benedict XVI will be the first Pope
to pay tribute to St Wenceslas




PRAGUE, Pope Benedict XVI will be the first Christian church leader head to pay tribute at the shrine of St Wenceslas, the patron saint of Czechs, during his visit to the Czech Republic in September, church representatives told journalists Friday.

The Pope will visit Stara Boleslav in central Bohemia, on September 28, the day when Czechs commemorate the martyr death of St Wenceslas who was killed there in 935.

Two of Benedict XVI's predecessors visited Stara Boleslav, one of the oldest and most important places of pilgrimage in the Czech lands, but it was before they became Pope, journalists were told.

In 1588 Stara Boleslav welcomed cardinal Ippolito Aldobrandini who later become Pope Clement VIII. And in 1929, Angelo Roncalli came to Stara Boleslaw as a priest. In 1958 he became Pope John XXIII.

[I wonder why John Paul II, who visited the Czech Republic three times, did not go to Stara Boleslaw which is just outside Prague.]

Pope Benedict XVI will visit the 11th-century Basilica of St Wenceslas before saying Mass in an open square on September 28.

He will then address pilgrims of the annual St Wenceslas pilgrimage that is expected to attract some 30,000 people this year.

The thousand-years old tradition of Stara Boleslav pilgrimages was interrupted during the Communist era. The pilgrimages resumed as soon as teh Communist regime collapsed in 1989.

The Pope will stay in the Czech Republic on September 26-28.

"The Holy Father must take care of all the people - this is the nature of his work. This means he must take care even of the 'sinners' - that is us," former Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg, who is planning to go to Stara Boleslav, told CTK.

He was alluding to the fact that majority of post-Communist Czechs consider themselves atheists.


120,000 expected
at Brno Mass



Brno, June 29 - The space at Brno-Turany's airport at which Pope Benedict XVI will say Mass on September 27 will look from teh air like a carpet with a network of diagonal paths that divide the area into sectors, Brno bishopric representatives told journalists today.

The space with a capacity of 150,000 people was designed by architect Marek Stepan who specialises in sacred architecture.

The area will be bisected by an axis that connects an old wayside shrine and a ten-metre anchor depicting hope, journalists were told.

The wayside shrine is the sole historical element in the airport complex, Stepan said.

The statue of the Virgin Mary from the pilgrimage church in Turany will have a place of honour on the altar, Stepan said.

It is believed that the statue was brought to Moravia by the missionaries Cyril and Methodius in the 10th century. Their followers who were persecuted had to hide it. It was allegedly found by a man working in a field near Turany in 1050.

This will be the first visit by a Pope to Brno. The bishopric expects some 120,000 believers, including Slovaks, Poles, Ukrainians and other foreigners, to attend the Mass.

Also participating will be some 1000 priests and dozens of bishops from various parts of the world.

About 1300 journalists are expected to cover the event.

Pope Benedict XVI will visit the Czech Republic on September 26-28. Besides Prague and Brno, he will also go to Stara Boleslav, central Bohemia, where St Wenceslas, the patron saint of Bohemia, was killed on September 28, 935 (or 929, according to some sources).


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More security - and more crowds
expected for Benedict XVI
than Czechs had for Obama




PRAGUE, July 26 (CTK) - Security measures during Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the Czech Republic in September will be even stricter than during U.S. President Barack Obama's visit in the spring, today's issue of the daily newspaper Pravo quotes police protection service head Lubomir Kvicala as saying.

"We expect many more people to come to public spaces, therefore the measures will be greater than during President Obama's visit," Kvicala said.

Obama attended an informal EU-United States summit in Prague last April.

The Pope will be in the Czech Republic on September 26-28.

Pravo writes that it will principally be the Mass that Benedict XVI will celebrate at the Brno-Turany airport on Sunday, September 27, that will place big demands on protection.

Brno Bishop Vojtech Cikrle estimates that some 120,000 people will attend it.

Obama's speech outside Prague Castle was attended by some 15,000 people.

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Pope Benedict to present gift to Child of Prague statuette

Child of Prague will receive new gold crown

First steps of Benedict XVI in Czech Republic will lead to Prague’s famous place of pilgrimage which is visited by hundred of pilgrim from tens of countries. To visit Church of Our Lady Victorious in Karmelitska Street (street is named after Carmelite Monastery to which church belongs) and pay respect to Child of Prague statuette, popular especially in Hispanic world, was personal wish of Holy Father. After bowing and praying in front of statuette, he’ll hand Child of Prague his gift.

Traditional custom is to give Child of Prague clothing with royal attributes. It is reported to have about hundred of outfits, many of which have been donated as express of gratitude by worshipers round the world. The statuette has two golden crowns; first coronation took place in 1651. Prior of Carmelite Monastery by Child of Prague Pater Petr Šleich says: “Coronation with crown given by pope is the highest liturgical esteem, which Child of Prague could be given.

According to legend, Child Jesus miraculously appeared to Spanish monk who shaped statuette then. Another story tells statuette belonged to property of Saint Theresa of Jesus. Historical fact is statuette of Child Jesus was given to Duchess Maria Marinque de Lara (Spanish noblewoman who married Czech aristocrat) as wedding gift from her mother. Her daughter famous Czech noblewoman Polyxena von Lobkowicz then gifted precious statuette in 1628 to Carmelite Monastery by Church of Our Lady Victorious.

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Pope's speech in Czech Republic may be based on encyclical - Archbishop



Prague - Public speeches by Pope Benedict XVI within his visit to the Czech Republic on September 26-28 will probably be based on his new encyclical, Prague Archbishop Miloslav Vlk said today during the presentation of its Czech translation.

Cardinal Vlk, along with Olomouc Archbishop Jan Graubner, today also presented a unique rosary of gold and Bohemian garnets, which the Bohemian and Moravian will donate to the Pope at the close of his visit.
The Pope's new encyclical, his third in a row, called Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth) was published on July 7. Its name connects two essential phenomena of the Christian revelation - love and truth.
The text of the encyclical deals with current social issues in the world, including the roots of the economic crisis and globalisation, Vlk added.




Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, archbishop of Prague, with Papa during bishop' synod


Experts from diplomatic circles also indicated that the Pope would draw from the encyclical during his visit to the Czech Republic and that he might also touch upon the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the communist regime in Europe.

The Czech translation of the Papal Encyclical of some 100 pages was issued by the Carmelite publisher's three weeks ahead of the Pope'arrival in the Czech Republic.


Vlk said, commenting on the encyclical, that the Pope's main goal is not to moralise and criticise what is wrong, but to offer solutions.
"It is an extraordinary encyclical because of its wide scope. This is unusual for the Pope," Vlk noted.



Czech state-church relations settlement priority - Cardinal



Prague - Czech Catholic Church Cardinal Miloslav Vlk told Radio Impuls today that progress in the still non-ratified Czech-Vatican treaty could only be achieved after relations between the state and the church were settled in the Czech Republic.

Vlk pointed to a bill on the settlement of the state-church property relations that in his view had narrowed space for church freedom.
"The relevant draft amendment is still on the government's table," he said.

Regarding the question of property settlement between the state and churches that has not yet been achieved, Vlk said it was the question which burdened not only churches but also towns and villages and the whole state.

The bill on the settlement of property relations between the state and the church appeared in the Chamber of Deputies last spring but it has only been debated in the first reading.
A group of deputies around Vlastimil Tlusty (elected for the Civic Democrats, ODS) sharply criticised the government-proposed bill which was approved by the government last April.

Under it, the government wants to return about one-third of the churches' property that was nationalised after the 1948 communist coup. Instead of the remaining property, the churches are to receive 83 billion crowns during the next 60 years, or approximately 270 billion crowns with interests.

On Tlusty's initiative, a parliamentary commission was established to examine the proposal before it was to be Vsubmitted to the parliament again. The commission then did not recommend that the Chamber of Deputies passed the legislation.

The Czech Republic is one of a few European countries not to have ratified an inter-governmental treaty with the Vatican.
The document that defines the position of the Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic churches in the Czech Republic was signed in 2002. However, it has so far been only ratified by the Vatican.
The ratification process in the Czech Republic has not yet been completed as the Chamber of Deputies refused to ratify the document in 2003.

The deputies pointed out that the treaty was disadvantageous for the Czech state and violated the equal position of churches.
Vlk said in June that he firmly believed that the Vatican considered the wording of the treaty definitive and that it saw no reason to change anything in it.

The Vatican believes that the Czech Republic should ratify the document in its current wording, Vlk then said.

Today he said that Pope Benedict XVI was of the view that the negotiations on the treaty had been completed and that it would be good if its ratification were completed in the Czech Republic.
However, no talks between the Czech Republic and the Vatican on the treaty have been scheduled for the period of the Pope's visit to the Czech Republic in late September.

Nevertheless, it cannot be ruled out that Vatican State Secretary Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer will discuss the topic at their meeting during the Pope's visit, Vlk said.

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Czech bishops do not know whether Pope will talk about Romanies


Prague/Washington - The Czech Bishops' Conference' Ales Pistora told CTK today he does not know whether the Pope will mention the Romany issue during his visit to the Czech Republic, in reaction to a call by Jews and Hindus in the United States on Benedict XVI that he speak about Romanies.

"It is not known beforehand what theme Pope Benedict XVI will choose for his message to the Czech public," Pistora, the bishops’ conference spokesman, said.

Benedict XVI will visit the Czech Republic on September 26-28.
Representatives of Jews and Hindus in the United States claim Romanies in the Czech Republic live in an atmosphere similar to apartheid, The Jerusalem Post writes today.

Hindu representative Rajan Zed and Rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich claim in their joint statement that Romanies in the Czech Republic face violent attacks, stereotypes, racism, prejudices, a growing gap between them and the other Czechs, beatings, bad quality housing, systemic unemployment, persecution, social exclusion and segregation at school.

Zed and Freirich claim that Romanies are denied service in restaurants, shops and in discos, the state refuses to protect them against oppression and they undergo forced sterilisation.

Pistora reminded that Czech bishop Vaclav Maly said previously he is concerned about the growing aggressive manifestations of certain political parties and groupings aimed against minorities in the Czech Republic, mainly against Romanies of late.

Maly was reacting to an arson attack against a Romany family in Vitkov, north Moravia, in April, in which three people suffered burns.
The worst hit was a two-year-old girl who suffered burns to 80 percent of the surface of her body. She was recently awoken from induced sleep, but her condition is still serious.

"I express solidarity with all who will stand up to this dangerous trend using peaceful and legal means and who will speak up for the afflicted. The church is not indifferent and it stands in this effort on the side of all people of goodwill," Maly said.

Zed and Freirich wrote that for believers it is a sinful and morally unjustifiable if they do not pay attention to how Romanies are maltreated.

They said if the Pope raised the maltreatment of Romanies during his Czech visit, this would have a great effect.

Romanies, most of whom come from India, started to migrate to Europe around the 11th century.


Note from Teresa: The Romanies are colloquially called 'gypsies'. In many countries of Europe, they live in trailer parks, and many live from begging on the streets, often with their children.




Havel to attend Czech personalities' meeting with Pope


Prague - Former Czech president Vaclav Havel is among the personalities invited to a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI during his forthcoming visit to Prague, and he plans to attend the event hosted by the Presidential Office, Havel's secretary Sabina Tancevova told CTK today.

The meeting in the Spanish Hall of Prague Castle on September 26 will be attended by representatives of the Czech political and social life and also diplomats.

A private meeting of Havel and the Pope has not been planned for now, but it cannot be ruled out, Tancevova said.

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Pexeso "Benedict XVI in Czech Republic"

Popular game (called also Memory or Concentration) is availiable on-line on web of the Episcopate of Brno here


Episcopate of Brno have prepared in the occasion of visit of Benedict XVI special game for children and even for adults. Game contents 24 pictures which are connected with Pope Benedict, his office and with places he will attend during his apostolic trip in Czech Republic.





You can even play it on-line on website of the Episcopate of Brno.

http://www.biskupstvi.cz/papezvbrne/files/pexeso.html


In case you are successful and you properly uncover and sort all couples of pictures, you will be awarded with the same applause Pope usually received during General Audiences in Rome.

If you like more paper form of “pexeso”, you can buy it in Brno Airport as souvenir and remembrance for papal mass. It will cost 10 crowns. (less than €0,5) You can also order more than 20 pieces of game before Papal visit on address: Biskupství brněnské, Diecézní katechetické centrum, Petrov 5, 601 43 Brno.





DEAR MAKLARA....

What a fantastic start! And obviously, Gloria did facilitate your registration so you could post.

THANKS A MILLION in behalf of all the other English-speaking readers who would otherwwise not get these items!

TERESA

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Even radiotelegraphists to promote visit of Holy Fater in the Czech Republic


Two radiotelegraphists from nearby of Brno choose interesting way of promotion of visit of Holy Father in the Czech Republic. For a short-term they changed usual call signs of their amateur radio stations OK5MM (operator Ing. Vít Kotrba) and OK2BEW (operator Karel Pažourek) and they asked Czech telecommunication office for extraordinary call signs OL16BND and OL16B for whole September 2009. With broadcasting on short waves both telegraphists has became rarities and they has attracted attention among their colleagues round the world immediately because prefix OL is used only for absolutely unique occasions.


Text messages from Pope

Every morning you can receive on your cell phone text message from Pope Benedict XVI. More precisely text message do not send Holy Father himself but Episcopate Brno sends chosen quote from his papal encyclics. And this service is much appreciated.

Project named “Daily SMS from Pope” has intent to tune faithful to visit of Benedict XVI and his celebrations in Brno, which takes place on 27th September in airport Brno Tuřany.

According to spokeman of Brno Episcopate Martina Jandlová the majority of quotes are chosen to be an inspiration for thinking even for people who are not believers. A text message is for free and can be received from 5th September until 25th September.

Thoughts of Benedict XVI are chosen from his three encyclics: Deus Caritatis Est, Spe Salvi and Caritas in Veritate.

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Papal visit in light of anniversaries

Twenty anniversary of falling communist regime and canonization of St Agnes of Bohemia aren’t the only anniversaries, remembered by faithful this year

Benedict will arrive in the Czech Republic in year we remember many important anniversaries in Christian life of country. The visit of Holy Fathers takes place twenty years after fall of communism in our country
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Revolution.

Among other significant dates belong:
• 20. Anniversary of canonization Agnes of Bohemia by pope John Paul II on 12th November 1989 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_of_Bohemia

• 40. death anniversary of Cardinal Josef Beran on 17th May 1969 who was persecuted by both regimes, nazi and communist and is buried in the grotto of St. Peter's Basilica
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Beran

• 280 years from canonization of St John of Nepomuk by pope Benedict XIII on 19th March 1729
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Nepomuk

• Archiepiscopate of Prague was founded before 665 years on 30th April 1344

• 1010 years from St Adalbert’s canonization by pope Sylvester II in 999
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adalbert_of_Prague

• 1140 years from death St Cyril (Konstantin) on 14th February 868
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Cyril
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Hello Maklara


We visited Prague in August and found it really beautiful. We visited the church with the Child of Prague and the museum with all the clothing. We met there a rather funny and nice franciscan missionary.

Thanks for the posts
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Sorry to insert these items from the BENEDICT NEWS thread belatedly. I did not realize I failed to cross-post on 9/13/09, when these wre originally posted.



Pre-visit news about the Holy Father's coming visit to the Czech Republic has been really few and far between. The official site dedicated to it by the Czech bishops' conference is multilingual, but the translations from Czech always lag.

So it falls to Fr. Lombardi of the Vatican Press Office to prime us for the visit, which takes place in two weeks, in his editorial today for Octavo Dies, the weekly CTV news roundup:




Benedict XVI's trip
to the heart of Europe

by Federico Lombardi, SJ
Translated from
the Italian service of


Sept. 12, 2009


Before long, the Pope will be travelling once more for a brief but intense visit - to the Czech Republic from Sept. 26-28.



He will be going to the heart of Europe, to a country with an ancient and great cultural tradition to which Christianity made an essential contribution. A country that these days is marking the 20th anniversary of the end of the postwar Communist regime and the peaceful rebirth of democracy. A country where secularization is so widespread that the practice of religion has been reduced to a minority.

There are many strong messages that the Holy Father could address to believers and men of good will in that country. Certainly, to encourage a Church to be lively and courageous in its testimony to the faith, that can diffuse hope and fraternal love around it, particularly to the younger generations.

There will be an appeal to sincere ecumenism that can give credibility and depth to what believers can contribute to building the future in a secularized society.

This is a prospect of great cultural and moral significance, in order that the process of European unification may not be limited to material and economic aspects, but carry with it the wealth of shared values that are necessary to guarantee the dignity of the human being.

The Czech Republic's national day - which is the reason for the choice of the dates for the Pope's trip - is dedicated to the martyr St. Wenceslas. There can be no more effective way to recall that Christianity has given and can continue to render heartfelt and invaluable service to the most profound core and hopes of the Czech people, of every people.


From the papal visit site:


Bishops of Bohemia and Moravia
to present the Holy Father
with a unique rosary




Sept. 2 - The Bishops of Bohemia and Moravia had a unique rosary made as a gift for the Holy Father. The present will be handed over to him at the close of his visit. The rosary is made of pure gold and Bohemian garnets.

The rosary cross is a variation on the crosses from the period of Cyril and Methodius found by archaeologists in Moravia and bears two inscriptions in Glagolic letters.



The front side holds a verse from the Prologue to the Gospel of St. John: The Word became flesh, and the other side says: Christ has risen from the dead. Both quotations relate to the beginning and end of the earthly life of Christ.

The foot of the cross, where saints in adoration are usually depicted, also holds the initials of both brothers from Salonika, K and M, in Glagolic letters.

The cross and the large rosary beads, which are made of gold according to decorative buttons from the same period, serve as a commemoration of the Moravian part of the papal visit. The cross is the work of goldsmith and metal chaser Jan Kazda.

The front side bears a picture of the Madonna and the Child, based upon a late Gothic relief in the town of Stará Boleslav which was declared the Palladium of the Bohemian Lands 400 years ago, in 1609. The picture is accompanied by the names of the main themes of the visit in Latin: Fides, Spes, Caritas (Faith, Hope, Love). This part of the rosary was made by sculptor and world-famous medalist Milan Knobloch.

The back side of the round connecting rosette holds a portrait of St. Wenceslaus based on the Gothic statue of the saint by Petr Parléř in the St. Wenceslaus chapel in the Prague Cathedral and the Bohemian and Moravian land emblems, complemented by the motto of the papal visit: "The Love of Christ is Our Strength."

The rosary will be made by the company Triga-K, the producer of medals for Czech state decorations.

Based on the rosary rosette, the following unique medals will be issued:

•300 numbered pieces in pure silver, weighing 28 g each;
•150 numbered pieces in pure gold, weighing 1/2 of troy ounce, i.e. 15.55 g each;
•90 numbered pieces in pure gold, weighing 1 troy ounce, i.e. 31.1035 g each.

Relevant numbered certificates will be issued to all the medals sold. The yield of the sale will be used to finance the activities of the Czech Catholic Charity.


I must say the Czechs really know how to make souvenirs literally worth their weight in gold! Short of being in the Czech Republic for the visit, the rosary rosette and the official medal for the visit (shown in the banner)make quite an attractive souvenir set cum investment.



Place reservations closed for papal Masses
but anyone can obtain a place ticket
at the Mass location itself




Place reservations for papal masses were closed on Aug. 31, 2009 and no more applications are being accepted; neither it is possible for priests to ask for concelebrating. Registration forms are now being processed and place tickets are being printed.

However, there is enough space for all pilgrims in Brno as well as in Stará Boleslav, hence it is possible just to come for the Mass and get a ticket at the entry. Obviously, only places far from the altar will be available.


BRNO
Pilgrims can come on Sunday, Sept. 27, to the Brno-Tuřany Airport and get a place ticket at the entrance. However, only sectors far from the podium will be available. It is suggested to arrive as early as possible, preferably at 5 am.


STARÁ BOLESLAV
Pilgrims can come on Monday, Sept. 28, to the "Proboštská louka" in Stará Boleslav and get a place ticket at the entrance. However, only sectors far from the podium will be available. It is suggested to arrive as early possible. The area will be opened starting at 4 am.


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Posted earlier today in the BENEDICT XVI news thread.


John Allen comments on the Czech and Malta trips in his weekly column today.


The Czech Republic:
Not an easy mission
for the Pope


Sept. 18, 2009


Pope Benedict XVI hits the road again next weekend, travelling to the Czech Republic Sept. 26-28. One highlight will be his participation in the Feast of St. Wenceslaus on Monday, Sept. 28, which is a national holiday. St. Wenceslaus is the patron saint of the Czech Republic.

In strictly capitalistic terms, if religion were a "product," the Czech Republic would arguably be one of the worst markets for that product anywhere in the world.

Although secularization has spread all across Europe, Austrian sociologist Fr. Paul Zulehner reports that the former East Germany and the Czech Republic are really the only places where atheism has become in effect the "state church," meaning the conviction of a majority and the strongest culture-shaping force.

(The standard quip is thus that in East Germany and the Czech Republic, atheism is the only proven success of the erstwhile Communist regimes.)

Here's one sign of the times: The Prague Post, the country's leading English-language paper, has asked me to write an op-ed piece in advance of the trip, the working title of which is: "Does the Pope still matter?"

When the Pope travels to other parts of the world, local media usually ask me to speculate on how he might try to deploy his influence. Only in some pockets of Europe am I asked to comment on whether he still has any.

Benedict XVI also faces several more immediate challenges.

For one thing, a draft concordat between the Holy See and the Czech Republic is still in limbo after being rejected by the Czech parliament in 2003, on the basis of objections from some politicians that it made too many concessions to the Catholic church. (Among other things, there are still church-state disputes over property confiscated under the Communists.)

Czech President Václav Klaus, whom Benedict will meet on Sept. 26, is also a prominent Euro-skeptic and critic of claims about manmade global warming -- both positions tough to reconcile with the Vatican's official diplomatic line.

I'll be in the Czech Republic to cover the trip; watch the NCR Web site for my daily reports.

In the meantime, the Vatican says that Benedict XVI is considering a trip to Malta next April to commemorate the 1,950th anniversary of St. Paul's famous shipwreck on the tiny Mediterranean island. Officially, Malta is 98 percent Catholic, making it among the most Catholic societies on earth in terms of "market share."



Pope to be accompanied by 100 people
on visit to Czech Republic




VATICAN, Sept. 17 (CTK) - Pope Benedict XVI will be accompanied by a 29-member group of the Vatican representatives, including Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and people from the International Catholic Centre, as well as up to 70 journalists, the Vatican administration has told CTK.

Benedict XVI, 82, and his team will fly to Prague aboard a plane of the Italian Airlines. He will return to Rome by a Czech special plane.

The Pope's team will also include a personal doctor, his assistant, two interpreters, an official photographer and three experts in liturgical ceremonies.

On the other hand, Benedict XVI never takes a personal cook to his trips abroad as he is not on a special diet, a clerk from the Vatican administration, told CTK.

The Vatican also confirmed that Benedict XVI would spend two nights in the Czech Republic in the seat of the Vatican diplomatic mission in Prague, Federico Lombardi, spokesman for the Vatican state secretariat, told CTK.

Two bulletproof "papa-mobiles" (cars specially adjusted for the Pope) were sent to the Czech Republic two weeks ahead of the visit. A Czech policeman is to drive them.

Hundreds of Czech policemen will protect the Pope during his three-day visit to the Czech Republic on September 26-28.

The security measures are to be as tight as during the April visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to Prague.

Among the media representatives to accompany the Pope will be a reporter of the Italian daily L'Osservatore Romano, technicians from the Vatican radio and a photographer from the Vatican TV.

Former Papal Nuncio to Prague Giovanni Coppa will also be in the Pope's delegation.

The Pope will arrive in the Czech Republic on Saturday, September 26. On Sunday morning, September 27, he will celebrate a mass for tens of thousands of pilgrims at the Brno-Turany airport.

On September 28, the day of St Wenceslas, patron Saint of Bohemia, the Pope will celebrate a public mass in Stara Boleslav, central Bohemia, where St Wenceslas died a martyr death in 935.

Czech church and political representatives are preparing various gifts for the Pope that will be presented at a press conference in Brno this afternoon.

The Bohemian and Moravian bishops have ordered a unique rosary for for the Pope. Its rosette will become a pattern for special silver and golden commemorative medals that will be issued on this occasion.

The Pope will pay a visit to the Czech Republic for the first time after 12 years.

The predecessor of Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II, visited the Czech Republic in 1995 and 1997, and in 1990 he paid a visit to the former Czechoslovakia.

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Czech church seeks to reconcile Czechs, Germans - Cardinal Vlk



Passau - The Czech Catholic Church has sought to achieve reconciliation between the Czech Republic and Germany since the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1991 but it has failed to achieve it in society, Cardinal Miloslav Vlk writes in the German daily Passauer Neue Presse.

In an interview published before Pope Benedict XVI's forthcoming visit to the Czech Republic Czech Catholic Church Primate Vlk says that reconciliatory gestures by church dignitaries have found no response among politicians.

The pope will visit the Czech Republic on September 26-28.
The daily says that the Pope comes from Bavaria where many Germans who were transferred from the former Czechoslovakia after World War Two have settled.

It points out that voices have appeared in the Czech Republic that Benedict XVI could be the mouthpiece of Sudeten Germans.
"I will respond to this with a counter-question of whether there are any proofs of this," Vlk writes.

After the war, bishops called on the then government not to implement the collective guilt principle in the deportation of Germans and adopt a human approach. They wrote this in their pastoral letter and in a memorandum which they sent to the cabinet, Vlk writes.

Documents of the former communist secret police, StB, confirm that the Czech and German bishops held talks in 1968 on a reconciliatory meeting of both countries' Catholics in Litomerice, north Bohemia, Vlk writes.

He says that the Czech Catholic Church resumed its contacts with the Bavarian church in 1990, shortly after the 1989 Velvet Revolution that toppled the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.

The two countries' Bishops Conferences exchanged letters with mutual excuses for past atrocities.

The preparedness for reconciliation is visible in the church circles, Vlk says.

"We hoped that we were giving a sign to civic society by this. But we have failed," Vlk says.

The reason is the former communist regime that "cultivated the idea of alleged German revanchism" in society and provoked the impression that people on the other side of the border threaten security and want to take everything away from Czechs, Vlk writes.

The church reconciliatory gestures had no impact on politics, he says.
"Politicians on both sides, but especially in the Czech Republic, did not perceive it as the key moment. On the contrary. They have used nationalism as a trump card in elections and during other events," Vlk says.

The Pope whose mother tongue is German will not speak German during his visit to the Czech Republic but will opt for Italian and English.
According to the media, the reason is that he does not want to open old wounds from the past in Czechs.

However, this is a myth, Vlk says.

He says the Pope wants to address young people who mainly speak English. Italian is a language close to liturgy, Vlk added.
Vlk's interview today was published a few hours before Czech President Vaclav Klaus's participation in a debate with Vienna Archbishop Christoph Schoenborn in the office of the Passau publishing house.
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Pope Benedict asks faithful
to accompany him with prayers







At the Angelus today, Pope Benedict XVI asked the faithful to pray for the spiritual success of his coming trip to the Czech Republic. Here is a translation of his words:


Starting next Saturday, Sept. 26, to Monday, Sept. 28, God willing, I will make an apostolic trip to the Czech Republic. I will stay in Prague, the capital, but I will also be going to Brno in Moravia, and Stara Boleslav, site of the martyrdom of St. Wenceslas, the principal patron saint of the nation.

The Czech Republic is geographically and historically in the heart of Europe, and after having gone through the tragedies of the past century, like the entire Continent, it needs to rediscover the reasons for faith and hope.

In the footsteps of my beloved predecessor John Paul II who visited that country three times, I, too, wish to render homage to their heroic witnesses for the Gospel, ancient and recent, and I encourage everyone to move forward in love and truth.

I thank all those who will accompany me with prayer on this trip so that the Lord may bless it and make it fruitful.

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A couple of items from the Czech news agency CTK:

Pope Benedict in Brno:
In his 3 trips to Cezch Republic,
John Paul II did not visit
the second largest Czech city





CTK used this striking photograph to illustrate the story.

Brno, Sept. 19 (CTK) - Pope Benedict XVI will go to Brno on his Czech visit, because he may hope that the Mass he will celebrate at Brno-Turany airport may attract lots of believers as well as non-believers in the relatively religious part of the country, trip organizers said at a news conference today.

Participants in the conference also said the Pope may want to show appreciation for a diocese that is dynamically developing, and to honor the second largest Czech city, which his predecessor never visited.

In three trips to the Czech Republic, John Paul II visited Prague, the capital; Olomouc, north Moravia; Velehrad, south Moravia; and Hradec Kralove, east Bohemia.

Jaroslav Sebek, from the Czech Science Academy Historical Institute, said participation in the Mass in Turany may be record-setting. OrganiZers expect some 100,000 people.

Cardinal Miloslav Vlk told today's issue of daily Mlada fronta Dnes that the idea for a visit by Benedict XVI to the Czech Republic was first raised in 2005.

"In our country there is a low number of believers and the Pope is coming to encourage us," Vlk said.

Benedict XVI will arrive in the Czech Republic at the invitation of President Vaclav Klaus on Saturday, September 26.

On Sunday 27 he will celebrate an open-air Mass in Brno.

On Monday, September 28, the Pope will take part in the celebrations of St Wenceslas Day in Stara Boleslav, central Bohemia, the place where Wenceslas was murdered in 935.

St Wenceslas is the patron saint of Czechs.



Archbishop of Prague presents
Czech translation of CIV




Prague, Sept. 2 (CTK) - Public speeches by Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to the Czech Republic on September 26-28 will probably be based on his new encyclical, Prague Archbishop Miloslav Vlk said today during the presentation of its Czech translation.



Cardinal Vlk, along with Olomouc Archbishop Jan Graubner, today also presented a unique rosary of gold and Bohemian garnets, which the Bohemian and Moravian will donate to the Pope at the close of his visit.

The Pope's new encyclical, his third in a row, called Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth) was published on July 7. Its name connects two essential phenomena of the Christian revelation - love and truth.

The text of the encyclical deals with current social issues in the world, including the roots of the economic crisis and globalisation, Vlk added.

Diplomatic circles also think the Pope will touch upon the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the communist regime in Europe.

The Pope will celebrate two great public masses - in Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, and in Stara Boleslav, central Bohemia, in honour of St Wenceslas, patron Saint of Bohemia, who died a martyr death in this town.

The Czech translation of the Papal Encyclical of some 100 pages was presented three weeks beforethe Pope'arrival in the Czech Republic.

Vlk said, commenting on the encyclical, that the Pope's main goal is not to moralise and criticise what is wrong, but to offer solutions.

"It is an extraordinary encyclical because of its wide scope. This is unusual for the Pope," Vlk noted.

Czech church and political representatives are preparing various gifts for the Pope.

The bishops had a unique rosary created for him. Its rosette will become the shape of special commemorative medals issued on the occasion of the Pope's visit.

This will be the first Papal visit to the Czech Republic in 12 years.

The predecessor of Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II, visited the Czech Republic in 1995 and 1997, and in 1990 he paid a visit to the former Czechoslovakia.



Vatican reports higher number
of Czech Catholics than census





Prague - The Vatican has reported that over three million Catholics live in the 10-million Czech Republic, that is ,almost one-third of its population, but the real number of active believers is probably low, according to the latest census, experts addressed by CTK have agreed.

The latest population census in 2001 showed that over 2.7 million people profess the Catholic religion in the Czech Republic, which was almost 1.3 million fewer than in 1991.

The Vatican press centre released the information, based on the Holy See's statistical data as of December 31, 2008.

A total of 10.38 million inhabitants, including 3.29 million Catholics lived in the the Czech Republic as of that date, says the Papal press centre in a report released by the Czech Bishops' Conference on its website.

However, the number of Czech Catholics stated by the Vatican appears to be based on the number of baptised children, whereas the current number of observant Catholics woregularly attend divine services is not known and will probably be lower, experts told CTK.

"The Catholic Church considers everyone who is baptised its member. These people do not have to claim they belong to the Church in a census," Jiri Gracky, from the Czech Bishops' Conference, said.

The Vatican has used data from individual dioceses, Gracky added.

There are no available data on the number of Catholics during the 20-year Communist era except for the 1950 census.

Religion expert and theologist Ivan Odilo Stampach says there is an immense difference between the number of people who say they follow the church and real believers.

According to the Vatican press centre, there are nine church administration units in the Czech Republic, five Bohemian and three Moravian dioceses and the Apostolic Exarchate of the Greco-Catholic Church, with 2576 parishes and another 70 pastoral centres.

A total of 20 bishops, including three Greco-Catholic ones, 1370 diocesan and 586 monastic priests, 116 monks and 1609 nuns serve the Czech Republic. Besides, 184 theology students are preparing for the priest's profession. However, Opatrny says the number of candidates for priesthood is not rising in the country.

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Pope's trip to Czech Republic
takes him to a highly secularized nation

By Carol Glatz



VATICAN CITY, Sept. 19 (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI is traveling to the Czech Republic at the end of September, making a three-day visit to a nation that is widely viewed as Europe's least-religious country.

The Sept. 26-28 trip was scheduled to coincide with the feast of St. Wenceslas -- a 10th-century prince who is credited with bringing Christianity to the Czech people.

It will be a religious pilgrimage for the Pope, who will make stops in the capital to see the Infant of Prague at the Church of Our Lady of Victory and in Stara Boleslav to celebrate the feast of St. Wenceslas, patron saint of Czechs.

Pope Benedict also will speak to political and cultural leaders in Prague and meet with President Vaclav Klaus. It will be his first papal visit to the Czech Republic and his 13th trip outside Italy.

He will reach out to the country's Catholics with Masses in Brno and Stara Boleslav, hold meetings with bishops and celebrate vespers with religious and lay groups. He also will address ecumenical representatives, young people and scholars.

These occasions will offer the Pope numerous opportunities to draw on many recurring themes of his pontificate: the importance of reviving Europe's Christian roots, the relevance of a millenniums-old faith for addressing today's current ills, and the need to promote a political and social culture based on love, hope and solidarity.

The 82-year-old Pope has made it a custom to visit a Marian pilgrimage site in Europe every September. This year he will visit Stara Boleslav -- a town 15 miles northeast of Prague and home to the Shrine of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

The highlight of the trip will be the Sept. 28 Mass and feast day celebration of St. Wenceslas. The gathering coincides with the country's national pilgrimage to Stara Boleslav, which attracts the attention and interest of the whole nation, including political and cultural leaders.

Sept. 28 is a day when patriotic sentiment and religious devotion merge as the country celebrates Czech statehood. The national pilgrimage to Stara Boleslav -- the town where St. Wenceslas was murdered by his brother -- has become an extremely popular event over the past decade and has turned into "a manifestation of unity in a common Christian spiritual tradition," according to the Czech bishops' Web site.

Like the Church in other former communist nations, the Church in the Czech Republic suffered under Soviet control after World War II. Church properties were confiscated and the problem of restituting or compensating for the seizures still has not been wholly resolved.

For example, Prague's historic St. Vitus Cathedral, where the Pope will celebrate vespers Sept. 26, still belongs to the state despite a long legal battle between the Church and the country's courts.

In 1946, about 80 percent of the Czech people identified themselves as Catholic, and 50 percent of them went to Mass regularly, according to local church statistics. In 1991, two years after the country's peaceful struggle for independence and democracy with the Velvet Revolution, 38-40 percent declared themselves Catholic. That trend continued to spiral downward to 26-30 percent today, with only 5 percent saying they regularly attend Mass.

When the Pope's trip to the Czech Republic was announced in 2006, Martin Horalek, a spokesman for the Czech bishops, said the papal visit would be a great opportunity to rebuild the Catholic faith "at a time when our church's position has suffered, leaving it weak in numbers."

The drastic decline in church attendance has often been blamed on the decades of Communist repression and its efforts to blot out religious faith. But some say the crisis of Catholicism includes the Church's failure to seize new opportunities ushered in by the wave of democracy.

The Czech ambassador to the Vatican, Pavel Vosalik, said after the fall of communism in the Czech Republic that an overwhelming majority of citizens did identify with Christian values and principles.

But as the country got caught up in building a free and democratic nation, those common ideals got lost in the shuffle, and society quickly became secularized, he told Vatican Radio Sept. 14.

Vosalik said he believes the country still holds a deep belief in God and religion, but that it has lost its connection to the Catholic Church.

Starting in the 1990s, "the Church missed the opportunity, missed the momentum when the nation was very open and was willing to communicate" with the Catholic Church, he said.

The Church especially failed to reach out to young people, who never experienced communist oppression, in a language they could understand and with a message they wanted to hear, he said.

[This failure to connect probably reflects most on the hierarchy in the Czech Church - John Paul II made three visits to the Czech Republic, two of them after the end of the Communist regime. No one could have better known how to encourage a rebuilding of the faith after two decades of Communist atheism.

But the Pope can only set the message and the tone - it is up to the local Church to act on it. And so, likewise, Benedict XVI's visit may generate enthusiasm for a few weeks or months, but if the local Church is unable to build on that momentum, it will largely be wasted.]


He said he spoke with Pope Benedict about these issues and told him how Church leaders needed to look at "how they could improve their communication with the population" and find new ways of getting their message across that would resonate with the modern age.

"I see the visit as a very important step toward building and reopening channels for communication between society and the Catholic Church," the ambassador said.

The pope is optimistic about the Czech Republic's resolve in overcoming obstacles. In an address to Vosalik when he presented his credentials as the new ambassador to the Vatican last year, the Pope praised the Czech people's strong sense of solidarity, which enabled them to overthrow totalitarianism and build a democratic nation.

But the Pope said true progress can only come about with the values and hope that the church offers every generation -- a message he is likely to repeat to the Czech people in person.

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Posted earlier in the BENEDICT thread.


A trip in history to rediscover
the Christian roots of Europe

by Mario Ponzi
Translated from
the 9/23/09 issue of






PRAGUE - Only the last details are lacking, but Prague is ready to receive Benedict XVI, the second Pope to visit the land of the Bohemians and Moravians.

In the Church of St. Mary of Victory, the vestments of the image of the Infant Jesus of Prague are freshly pressed. The Cathedral dedicated to St. Vitus, St. Wenceslas and St. Adalbert has been completely re-scoured.

The great altar on the field adjoining the airport of Brno has been completed, and the great iron Cross which will be left there to commemorate the visit has been set into place.

And in Stara Boleslaw, they have completely prepared the esplanade along Melnik road that will hold at least 100,000 persons expected for the papal Mass to be celebrated at the site of St. Wenceslas's martyrdom.

Yesterday, Sept. 22, Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican press office director, explained details of the Pope's program in the Czech Republic.

He recalled that this will be the fourth time the Czech Republic welcomes a Pope. Papa Wojtyla made three trips - in 1990, 1995 and 1997.

Even for Benedict XVI, it will be a second visit. On March 30, 1992, he was in Prague as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to take part in a seminar on the Catechism of the Church.

He gave a lecture entitled "That God may be everything in everyone: Christian faith in eternal life".

Benedict XVI's visit to the Czech Republic - his 13th trip as Pope outside Italy - will take place From Sept. 26-28.

He will arrive in Prague on Saturday, Sept. 26, at the international airport Stara Ruzyne. It has some historical significance for the Czechs. Like many other places in this land, it has been a theater of confrontation and encounter of all the good and all the bad that has marked this nation's history.

Through this airport, all who had been forced to flee various dominations returned from exile to reanimate the life of the nation in re-found freedom. It was also from this airport that the Soviet army came in to occupy Prague.

Nearby are two other places that are equally symbolic. On the one hand, the Benedictine monastery of Brevnov, founded by St. Adalbert in 993, remains as testimony to a millennary effort to promote culture in the land, besides being a symbol of its Christian roots.

On the other hand, there is the prison of Ruzyne, symbol of totalitarianism and the cruelty of totalitarian regimes, but also of the spiritual strength of those who opposed it. Here, tbe students who rebelled in 1939 were massacred, and in the 1950s, this is where enemies of the regime were interrogated.



After the welcome ceremony, Benedict XVI will proceed to the Church of Our Lady of of Victory, which houses the image of the Infant Jesus of Prague, who has a worldwide following of devotion. That is why the Church is always full of foreign pilgrims. Here, the Pope will meet with a group of families.

After a brief rest at the Apostolic Nunciature - his residence during his three-day visit - the Pope will pay a courtesy visit to the President of the Republic at the presidential residence in the world-famous Prague Castle.



After meeting the President, he will meet with the civilian and political authorities and the members of the diplomatic corps.

Afterwards, the Pope will walk to the Cathedral of Prague - part of the monumental complex and 200 meters away from the Castle - to celebrate Vespers, his last event on Day 1.



The Cathedral of Prague is an imposing Gothic edifice which in its present form dates back to 1334. A project of the King of Bohemia, Charles IV, it was executed by the architects Mattia di Arras and Pietro Parler. The Kings of Bohemia rest in its crypt, along with
Czech patron saints Wenceslas, John Nepomuceno, and Adalbert.

It was last restored in 1929 for the millennial anniversary of St. Adalbert. Today, the cathedral is dedicated to Saints Vitus, Wenceslas and Adalbert.

The following morning, Sunday, the Pope will go to Brno, the Republic's second largest city, capital of Moravia. It is also the Czech city with the greatest number of Catholics.



On a large field adjoining the airport, the Pope will celebrate the mass of the XXVI Sunday in ordinary time. He will return to Prague after the Mass.

In the afternoon, he will have two meetings. The first will be with representatives of other religions. This will take place in the Throne Room of the Archbishop's Palace, where he will receive representatives of the ecumenical council.



Afterwards, he will return to Prague Castle, about 300 meters from the Archbishop's Palace, where, in Vladislavsky Hall, he will meet with representatives of the academic world. They will include the rectors of Czech universities and representatives of their professors and students.



On Monday morning, September 28, which is the Czech National Day, the Pope will travel by car to nearby Stara Boleslaw to celebrate the Solemnity of St. Wenceslas in the place where he was martyred, a destination for annual pilgrimages to a place many Czechs consider to symbolize the birth of their nation.

Before celebrating Mass, the Pope will visit the Church of St. Wenceslas, erected on the place where he was killed by his own brother Boleslaw. [Strange that the place is named after the assassin, not the saint!]

In the Church, he will meet with about 20 old priests invited by the Czech bishops' conference.

After the Mass, a youth representative will greet the Pope in the name of his colleagues, to start the part of the program reserved for the Pope to meet the youth.

The Holy Father will return to Prague in time for lunch with the Czech bishops at the Archbishop's Palace.

He will leave for Rome in the afternoon, after a farewell ceremony at the airport. He is expected to be back in Castel Gandolfo by 8 p.m.


Meanwhile, the Office of Liturgical Celebrations has posted online the missal for the Czech trip. The principal language used is Latin.



24/09/2009 19:02
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Attendance of Pope' Czech masses to exceed expectations-Maly


Prague - The attendance of the two masses that Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate during his forthcoming visit to the Czech Republic is likely to exceed the expectations, Czech Catholic Bishop Vaclav Maly told journalists.

Benedict XVI will visit the Czech Republic on September 26-28.
His mass in Brno-Turany airport will be attended by 100,000 people and some 1000 clergy, Maly said.

Some 50,000 church-goers and 700 clergy will attend the mass that the Pope will say in Stara Boleslav on Sunday, September 28. Believers from Slovakia, Poland, Germany and Austria will be among participants, Maly said.

"I personally am surprised and I would say that it would be an unexpectedly big number of people," Maly said.

He said that more people would attend Benedict XVI's masses in the Czech Republic than during his visit to Austria.

However, Maly admitted that if it took place in Slovakia the Pope's visit would attract even greater number of church-goers as Slovakia is a religious society.

"No comparison with Poland is possible because Poland is still a country in which the majority of the population declare themselves Catholic Church goers," Maly said.

The Pope will mention the topic of the fall of totalitarian regimes in central and eastern Europe 20 years ago in his masses and he will also focus on the relation of freedom and faith.

The topic of faith, hope and love will be the main spiritual topics of the Pope's masses and they will be emphasised in the masses, Maly said.

Benedict XVI's forthcoming visit is his first visit to the Czech Republic in the capacity as the Pope and the first papal visit to the country after 12 years.

The last papal visit was paid to the Czech Republic by Benedict's predecessor, John Pope II, in 1997.
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