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June 18th, 2008 Press information File n° 1 Pope Benedict XVI’s Visit to France The Church of France is looking forward to Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to France next Friday 12- Monday 15 September. It is a great honour for the country and a joy, especially for Catholics. Benedict XVI knows France well and has strong links with our country. The Pope is coming for an apostolic visit. As Pastor of the universal Church, he is coming to support the Church of France and the faith of Catholics. He is coming to meet all the French, all those who will come to listen to him and pray with him. He is coming to give thanks to God for Lourdes as a place of blessings for 150 years. In Lourdes , Pope Benedict XVI pilgrimage will be notably different from Pope John Paul II’s two previous pilgrimages; which themselves were quite different. The 2008 pilgrimage is part of a whole jubilee year, and will be its summit. The Pope will perform the jubilee acts that are proposed to all and consist in following the Way of the Jubilee, as the French bishops did during their spring meeting. The Pope’s pilgrimage will be placed under the sign of the Cross, since we will be celebrating the Glorious Cross on Sunday, September 15 and Our Lady of Sorrows on Monday 15. The Sunday celebration will be more particularly open to young people, to whom John Paul II transmitted already a long time ago the Cross that is travelling all around the world from one World Youth Day to the next. The Monday celebration will be more particularly open to the sick, to hospital workers and to doctors. The Pope will personally administer the Unction of the Sick, thus contributing to a better understanding of this sacrament, whose value remains insufficiently appreciated. The Pope has also wished to gather in Lourdes the French Episcopal Conference, since Lourdes is the usual host of the French bishop’s plenary assemblies. For his visit to Paris , the Pope has expressed several desires: he wishes to address the world of culture, to pray with all those who assiduously participate every day in the prayer of the Church, to speak to young people and to celebrate a Mass with a great number of the faithful. These wishes now correspond to the key stages of the Pope’s visit to Paris: the Bernardins College, Notre Dame Cathedral and the High Mass celebrated on the Invalides Esplanade. In charge of communication of the Pope’s visit to France: Jean-Pierre Chaussade Press contact for Paris : 01 56 56 44 20 - 06 09 25 57 78, [email protected] Press contact for Lourdes : 05 62 42 78 01, [email protected] Press contact for the French bishops’Conference : 01 72 36 68 41, [email protected] Press information File n° 1 (continued) In Paris the Pope will address the world of culture. During his first visit to Paris in 1980, John Paul II gave a highly significant lecture at the UNESCO headquarters. It was centred on culture as the expression of the human person. Since his election, Benedict XVI has striven to help today’s man trust in the resources of his reason and open up to all the dimensions of the human being. He has already dealt with this subject several times, suggesting that this is where dialogue between the world’s cultures can be rooted. The Pope’s address at the Bernardins College is likely to be a further major step in the development of his reflection in this line. In this respect, the Christian faith powerfully and unequivocally requires opening up to universality. It allows to admire all that is “just, noble and worthy of love” in man and his works. The Church is man’s servant, to help him fulfil his destiny, which means that the Church is eager to enter into dialogue, i.e. to ask, listen, teach and talk with all those who participate in fostering the image of itself that humanity is constantly shaping up. The Pope’s meeting with representatives of the world of culture at the Bernardins College will certainly be a major event, reaching far beyond the Parisian or national levels. This meeting will also testify to Pope Benedict XVI’s esteem for French culture and our country’s contribution to making human life more human. Benedict XVI is also coming to meet young people – those already in the workplace, university and high school students, as well as children . The Pope will be celebrating World Youth Day in Sydney this summer. Some will be able somehow to seize this opportunity. But in addition the Pope has wished to address the young of France directly outside of Notre Dame Cathedral. He is praying for them and for their future. The Pope also invites all the faithful of Paris, from the whole Ile de France, from other regions and even from abroad to join him for the High Mass he will celebrate on the Invalides Esplanade. 150,000 participants are expected for a great occasion to rejoice and pray. Benedict XVI will meet with President Sarkozy too . The Pope’s visit inevitably has an official dimension, and he is invited to the Elysées Palace. This is likely to be an opportunity for fruitful exchanges on the place of religions in France and the Church’s contribution to social life. 2 Press information File n° 2 How the Pope’s visit is being prepared The Pope’s visit is an event that demands marshalling numerous people and technical means within a very short time span and on several locations both in Paris and Lourdes. For the time being, the priority is to launch mobilisation campaigns so as to muster the 5,000 volunteers who are required for a wide array of tasks , from reception to logistics to managing and policing crowds of participants. Banners, posters and leaflets are being distributed to announce the Pope’s visit to Paris and Lourdes, and invite all those who can to participate massively. Parishes, Church movements, Catholic schools of the whole Paris area and all dioceses are being mobilized. Logistics The various events have to be organized in cooperation with public officials (traffic management, equipment of the venues, etc.), in order to cater as efficiently as possible for the needs of crowds: giant monitors, sound systems, podiums, furniture, flower decorations, etc. The arrangements in Paris The Auteuil Foundation : Within the framework of an exemplary partnership, the young people and adults of this foundation will actively participate in the preparation of the Pope’s visit to Paris. The skills of the young people trained by the Auteuil Foundation will be used to create and set up: - Part of the flower decoration at the Bernardins College, Friday September 12, and flower decoration at the centre of the stairs and on the liturgical platform of the Mass on the Invalides Esplanade Saturday, September 13. - The furniture for this celebration, i.e. the altar, the pulpit, the Pope’s chair, the Virgin’s statue’s pedestal, the benches and seats for bishops, and the communion tables. Contributions will come from the horticulture and woodwork vocational schools of the Auteuil Foundation, especially in the Paris area and in the Centre and Normandy regions. With some 170 establishments in France, the Auteuil Foundation welcomes, educates, trains and guides into professional life nearly 10,000 boys and girls in great social, academic, familial and emotional difficulty. These young people are sent by their families or by official social workers. Each teenager receives individual counselling to develop his competence and personal involvement in the trade he chooses. 3 Press information File n° 2 (continued) The liturgy The various celebrations have to be prepared: the liturgical readings must be selected, the hymns must be rehearsed, the groups providing the musical background of the Friday evening event must be approached and coordinated, etc. Choirs : About thirty choirs will participate in the Saturday, September 13 Mass. This means 1,500 or so singers, both children and adults , coming from the choral societies of parishes, primary and secondary schools. The hymns will be simple or well known, so that the crowd may easily join. Prayers will be accompanied by a smaller choir. The reception of participants The flows have to be managed, in cooperation with first-aid crews, including distribution of drinkable water and cleaning up after the events. Volunteers : They will be found principally in parishes, Catholic schools and the new communities. Thanks to the latter, 150 team leaders aged 17-30 have already registered, and each one is gathering a team of 10, 20 or 30 persons. The arrangements in Lourdes “The pilgrimage directors have been invited to organize groups of faithful, which had not been possible for the previous papal visits as they took place in the middle of summer vacations. These groups will take advantage of priority seating for the Sunday Eucharistic celebration. The members of these groups will not have to take care of their transport and accommodation. At the spiritual level, this should allow everyone to focus on fathoming the deep significance of what they will experience around the Holy Father. “The experience of John Paul II’s visits to France teaches us that pessimistic rumours spread in the last few days: the venues might be inaccessible; you had better stay at home and watch TV… In Lourdes, the prefect is fully determined to offer permanent easy access to the premises. Let us spread the good news!” (From a message of the Most Reverend Jacques Perrier, Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes).