An immense crowd, worthy of the largest rock festivals and estimated at one million faithful Catholics, greeted the pope Saturday at the Cuatro Vientos Airport (Four Winds Airport) near Madrid. The place is aptly named as it was struck in mid-evening by an enormous thunderstorm and downpour which interrupted the ceremony and the homily of Benedict XVI. The papal zucchetto was even swept away by the wind.
The faithful applauded and chanted "Viva el papa" and "Benedict" in different languages. Some took the time to write short messages on each others flags, or walked arm in arm, fraternizing and hugging.
Many of them had walked between three and ten kilometers on foot in the 100 degree heat of a blazing sun, wearing caps or hats on their heads and carrying fans or water bottles in their hands, to arrive at the Cuatro Vientos.
A 200 meter long stage
Benedict XVI was seated on a white stage 200 meters long. Sunday morning he will return to the Cuatro Vientos for the Closing Mass of WYD, joining the young people who will have spent the night.
In the middle of the crowd, the French Fr. Guy Gilbert, the celebrated "curé of the backpackers", in a leather jacket despite the heat, remarks: "after the extraordinary charisma of John Paul II, when Benedict was elected pope in 2005, it was said: he's an old man, he will not last. Me, I love Benedict XVI. One came to see John Paul, one listens to Benedict. With him there is no facade. With Benedict who disappears behind Christ, the young understand better the mystery of the Church."
He hears the confessions of four young pilgrims
The Pope began his day in the Buen Retiro Park, hidden behind a screen, where he heard the confessions of four young pilgrims, demonstrating the importance he attaches to the sacrament of penance.
He had settled into one of the 200 confessionals of white canvas which have seen a parade of pilgrims in their thousands since Wednesday, to hear the confessions of two young Frenchmen, a German-Swiss, and a Spaniard.
Afterward he addressed 6000 seminarians of all origins, some in full-dress and some in more casual attire, who were gathered inside and outside the Almudena Cathedral. Your duty, they were told by the pope, is to be "messengers of the supreme dignity of the human person and therefore its unconditional defenders."
The scandal of clerical pedophilia, to which he made no mention, has led the hierarchy of the Church to pay more attention to the psychological maturity of candidates for the priesthood.
In the sacristy of the cathedral, Benedict XVI was greeted by the leader of the conservative opposition of Spain, Mariano Rajoy, after having met the day before with the leader of the socialist government, Jose Luis Zapatero; a general election is scheduled for November in Spain.
The Vatican has not had good relations these last six years with the current government, which has adopted laws liberalising abortion and legalizing homosexual marriage.
Read the full article in the original French here.
 |
| A storm approaches Cuatro Vientos airport; the sudden downpour prevented Pope Benedict from reading his entire homily at Saturday's prayer vigil |
No comments:
Post a Comment