” “An invitation to pray "for the Ordinary Assembly of the Episcopal Synod, that is taking place in Rome, "that it may bear fruits of genuine renewal in every Christian community", was made yesterday by Benedict XVI in Pompeii during the Angelus prayer. Then, he mentioned the World Missionary Day that, celebrated yesterday as part of the Pauline Year, "offers us, for meditation, a famous phrase of the Apostle of the People: "Woe betide if I did not preach the Gospel!”. Of course, he also made a reflection on the Rosary in Pompeii: the Pope pointed out "that the first missionary duty of every one of us is precisely prayer". Benedict XVI then mentioned the beatification, which took place in Lisieux yesterday, of Louis Martin and Zélie Guérin, parents of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, declared by Pius XI the patron saint of the missions. "These new Blessed souls he commented have accompanied and shared, with their prayers and with their evangelical testimony, the path of the daughter called by the Lord to consecrate Herself to Him unconditionally, between the walls of the Carmel". Then, as to her parents, he concluded: "I like to mention another intention that I have so much at heart: the family, whose role is essential to raise children to a universal spirit, open to and responsible for the world and its problems, as well as to the rise of vocations to missionary life".” “
