“My visit in Austria is getting nearer. You know that: I love this country that reminds me of my childhood, the Sunday walks I went on […] with our mother […], the wonderful landscapes of your country, the great Austrian culture and the kindness of your people”. As the visit in Mariazell gets nearer, Pope Benedict XVI speaks directly to the readers of the Austrian diocesan papers with a letter published on September 1st. The Pope revealed that he is closely bonded to the Virgin of Mariazell and that a copy of the image is hosted in the private chapel of the Vatican, which was taken to Rome by John Paul II, straight from the Marian sanctuary. “When I come to Austria, I will meet the great culture that has grown over the centuries…. But above all I will meet the present: the fights and the demands of an increasingly frenzied age: the fatigue of the faith and of being Christians in the cohabitation of different cultures and traditions. But when I meet the pilgrims in Mariazell, the faithful in Vienna, the multifaceted world of the volunteers in all the areas of society and the young on the road to priesthood at Heiligenkreuz, I know I will see a lively Church that experiences the joy of faith, despite the fatigue of everyday life: a Church that is aware of the beauty of knowing God, His face, made visible to us in Jesus Christ. In Austria… faith is not just the legacy of a great past. It is there and opens the door to the future. In Brazil, in the Fazenda da Esperança”, I met some young people in a way that I will never forget, who had become slaves to drugs, thus losing their joy of living, their confidence in the future. For them, discovering God means – they told me so – finding again the hope and joy of living and in the future. Since the faith is deeply rooted, just because of this it opens people up to the future and gives life. Let’s pray together”, concludes the Pope, “let my visit in Austria help us all rejoice again for God and thus build a future that will give us hope”.
