From Paris to Lourdes

It’s a journey especially awaited in terms of the issues that “presumably” the Holy Father will tackle in his addresses, especially during his meetings with the country’s authorities, with the world of culture and with the bishops. Father Federico Lombardi gave a briefing to journalists in the Vatican Press Room on 9 September to describe the programme of the apostolic journey that Benedict XVI will make to France from 12 to 15 September. The first motive that originally prompted the Holy Father to go to France – explained the Director of the Vatican Press Room – “was the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady at Lourdes. This participation the Pope had long promised to the Bishop of Lourdes. Later, following the Pope’s meeting with President Sarkozy last December, a further stage of the journey was added: the one in Paris. Benedict XVI had not yet been in France since he became Pope and his presence in the French capital was therefore logical”. Many of the French cardinals who form part of the Roman Curia will form part of the papal suite: Cardinals Tauran, Etchegaray, Poupard and Mamberti. The Pope will arrive at Orly Airport in Paris at 11.15 on Friday 12 September and will be personally welcomed by President Sarkozy. Meetings with State authorities. After the welcoming ceremony at the Elysée, the Pope will hold private talks with Sarkozy. Simultaneously the Holy See’s Secretary of State (accompanied by his deputy, Monsignor Dominique Mamberti, secretary for relations with states, and by the apostolic nuncio) will hold talks with the Prime Minister. At 13.00 the Pope will meet the State authorities (some 700 have been invited) to whom he will give an address. It is “presumable” – said Father Lombardi – that the Holy Father will refer to the speech that Sarkozy gave at the Lateran in Rome in December and hence to the “questions of the relations between Church and State” and the principle of secularism. In this regard the Director of the Vatican Press Room said that it is important to bear in mind “the letter written by John Paul II to Cardinal Ricard and the French bishops in 2005 to mark the centenary of the law of 1905”. This document – said Lombardi – “sums up” the question and is “very positive”. On the afternoon of 12 September, the Holy Father will have a meeting at the Nunciature with some twenty representatives of the Jewish community, the first of a series of meetings with exponents of other faiths. Benedict XVI will later have a meeting with the Muslim community (at the Collège des Bernardins) and with the Christians of other confessions (in the Parisian cathedral of Notre Dame). Meeting with intellectuals. Immediately after, again on the afternoon of 12 September, the Holy Father will go to the Collège des Bernardins, an institute – pointed out Father Lombardi – that “has a great history and that Cardinal Lustiger obtained for the use of the Church to turn it into a forum for dialogue between the Church and culture”. Some 700 guests will take part in the meeting with the Pope, including representatives of UNESCO (which is based in Paris) and of the European Union. “The address that the Pope will give on this occasion is eagerly awaited. It’s a text – added Father Lombardi – that the Pope has personally prepared with great commitment”; its original version is in fact in German. From the Collège des Bernardins the Pope will then proceed to Notre Dame Cathedral, where he will celebrate Vespers with the Parisian clergy and then greet the youth gathered in the esplanade in front of the cathedral, thus inaugurating an event that is of particular importance” for the diocese, namely, the vigil and procession of youth through the city that will last the whole night and end on the following day after a mass on the Esplanade des Invalides, which is expected to be attended by some 200,000 faithful.Meetings with the Church. The Pope is due to arrive in Lourdes at 18.00 on Saturday 13 September. Here the Pope will become a pilgrim among pilgrims. He will in fact complete the first three stages of the “jubilee path” connected with the life of St. Bernadette. His first address in Lourdes will be given on the conclusion of the procession held there every evening. The Mass marking the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady will be celebrated at 10.00 on Sunday 14 September. “It’s a Mass – explained Father Lombardi – for a France with international horizons due to the universal presence of pilgrims who flock to the sanctuary from all over the world”. All the bishops of France will be present at the Mass. Later the Pope will meet them in the hemicycle of Sainte-Bernadette where the Pope – said Father Lombardi – will tackle the “various problems and issues” relating to the “presence and mission of the Church in a secularised society”. Before leaving for Rome on Monday 15 September (“liturgical day of Our Lady of Sorrows”), Benedict XVI will go to the fourth and last stage of the “jubilee path” and celebrate a mass for the invalids during which he will impart the Anointing of the Sick to some ten of them.