"My trip has been a sort of diptych, the first panel being Paris", the second one Lourdes. This was stated this morning by Benedict XVI, during the farewell ceremony at the airport of Tarbes-Lourdes, to mark the end of his apostolic visit to France. In Paris, a city he knows "well", the Pope had "many important meetings". "There, I met he added a lively people of devotees, proud of and reliant on their faith, that I have come to encourage so that they may determinedly persevere in living the teachings of Christ and of His Church". Other highlights he mentioned include "the Vespers with the priests, the men and women of religion, and the seminarians". "A too short but truly intense moment" was that "with the youth on the parvis of Notre-Dame. Their enthusiasm and their affection are a comfort to me". Finally, a mention of the "prestigious meeting with the world of culture at the Institut de France and the Bernardins", which confirmed that "culture and its interpreters are a privileged vehicle in the dialogue bweteen faith and reason, between God and man". (continued)
