A moved Pope started last night at 7 pm the "La Bibbia giorno e notte" programme by reading the beginning of the first book of Genesis, in a TV link with the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome. The telethon, during which all of the Bible will be read, was hosted for the first hour by Rai Uno, then it will be broadcasted for one week by Rai Educational, but it can also be watched online at www.labibbiagiornoenotte.rai.it. "It is the encounter between the word that does not fade and its people, between the divine and the human language", said Giuseppe De Carli, director of Rai Vaticano and author of the programme, before Benedict XVI began reading the Bible. In the meantime, the screen showed images of the basilica, where a little girl opened a procession with a lit lamp in her hand, followed by a young man with the Holy Scripture, and an old man and a woman with a lit lamp each. Then, the link with the Pope. After him, the texts were read by Ilarion Alfeev, Orthodox Bishop of the Patriarchate of Moscow, Domenico Maselli, president of the Federation of the Evangelical Churches in Italy, and actor Roberto Benigni. Except for Maselli who used the interdenominational Bible, the other readers used the new Bible by the Italian Bishops Conference. Andrea Bocelli sang Johan Sebastian Bach’s "Praise to God".” “
