The papal plane took off today to Brazil, at 9 am, from Fiumicino Airport, Rome. Brazil is the destination of the sixth apostolic journey of Benedict XVI outside Italy. The journey will last until May 14 (he’s due to be back in Rome Ciampino at 0.45 pm), on the occasion of the V General Conference of the Latin American and Caribbean episcopate. Today, the Holy Father is arriving at the international airport of Sao Paulo at 4.30 pm, where the welcome ceremony and the speech of Benedict XVI are scheduled. At 5.30, the Pope is leaving for the Campo de Marte Airport in Sao Paulo by helicopter, and he’s arriving in there at 6. He’ll be greeting local authorities at that time. At 6.45 pm, the Pope will be greeting and blessing the crowd from the balcony of the Monastery. Tomorrow, after the Holy Mass in private, in the chapel of the Monastery, the Pope is going to the Palacio dos Bandeirantes, paying the President of the Republic a courtesy call (at 11 am); at 0.30 pm, at the Monastery, the Pope is having a short meeting with the representatives of other Christian faiths and other religions, followed by the meal with the Praesidium of the Bishops’ Conference of Brazil. At 6 pm, he is meeting the young at the Municipal Stadium of Pacaembu “Paulo Machado de Carvalho”, in Sao Paulo. The Holy Father will speak to them.
