Departed from Rome this morning, the Pope’s airplane landed in São Paulo at 04.30 pm, local time (09.30 pm, Italian time). As he replied to the welcome address of the President of Brazil, Lula da Silva, Benedict XVI said he heard them resound with "the sentiments of affection and love of all the Brazilian people for the Successor of the Apostle Peter" and explained the main reason for his journey, "of a Latin American scope and a basically religious character": "chairing, in Aparecida, the opening session of the V General Conference of the Episcopacy of Latin America and the Caribbean".
