150,000 Italians Express Their Support For The Pope
On May 16th, after having just recited the Regina Caeli prayer from the window of his apartments, the Pope thanked the faithful for coming with “enthusiasm” from all over Italy to give this “beautiful and spontaneous demonstration of faith and solidarity.” Benedict XVI also thanked them for their affection and their closeness to the Pope and the priests.
“The true enemy to be feared and to fight is sin, spiritual evil, which sometimes, unfortunately, also affects members of the Church,” Benedict XVI reminded them. “We Christians do not fear the world, even if we must protect ourselves from its seductions. . . On the other hand, we must fear sin and therefore we must be strongly rooted in God, united in goodness, in love and in service,” he added, speaking in front of this large crowd which he compared to the one he encountered several days before during his pilgrimage to Fatima.
Indeed, in spite of dubious weather, there were at least 150,000 people who came from all over Italy at the request of the National Consultative Council of Lay Associations with the support of the Italian Episcopal Conference. Families and students mixed with members of Catholic Action, the Community of Saint Egidio and the “Communion and Liberation” and Charismatic Renewal movements. A few days before in Portugal, the Pope had praised in an unusual way the role of the movements and new ecclesial communities as manifestations of a “new springtime” of the Church.
Representatives of the political world, including the mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, the president of the Senate, Renato Schifani and the president of the Italian Christian-Democrat Party, Pier Ferdinando Casini, appeared in a Saint Peter’s Square decorated with streamers bearing messages of support for Benedict XVI and some of his own best known quotations. (Sources: apic/imedia/RTL - DICI n°215 of the 22/05/10)
