Dossier - Instrumentum mensis Iunii pro lectura Magisterii Summi Pontificis Benedicti XVI pro evangelizatione in terris missionum

Saturday, 19 July 2008

Among the numerous audiences the Holy Father granted in the month of June, special mention should be made of his meeting on 2 June with pilgrims from the archdiocese of Turin, northern Italy accompanied by the Archbishop of Turin, Cardinal Poletto, during which the Pope announced a special exposition of the Holy Shroud in the Spring of 2010 “that we may contemplate that mysterious face which speaks silently to the hearts of men and women calling them to recognise it as the face of God”; the audience on 7 June to participants the 6th European Symposium of University Professors whom the Pope encouraged to “broaden the horizons of rationality”, and emphasised the need “promote high profile academic centres, where philosophy can dialogue with the other disciplines”.
Whereas among the Holy Father's message in that same month, we recall: on 3 June to the FAO World Food Security Conference in which the Pope affirmed once again: “ hunger and malnutrition are unacceptable in a world that, in reality, disposes of production levels, resources and sufficient knowledge to put an end to these dramas and their consequences”; the letter sent on 12 June to participants at the 7th General Assembly of the Catholic Bible Federation: “ It is only Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, who through the Holy Spirit, can open our minds to understand the Scriptures”; a letter on 21 June for the 25th anniversary of the ordination as Bishop of the Pope's Vicar for Rome diocese, Cardinal Camillo Ruini. On the same day a message to young people gathered in Quebec Canada to take part in the 49th International Eucharistic Congress, in which the Pope reminded them of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharistic Bread “ Christ is really, totally and substantially present. It is therefore in the mystery of the Eucharist, at Mass and during silent adoration before the Blessed Sacrament".
During the month the Pope granted private audiences to Catholic Bishops' Conferences on a regular five yearly ad limina visits coming from Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Honduras and from Hong Kong and Macau.
On 9 June the Holy Father went to his Cathedral, the Basilica of St John in the Lateran. to inaugurate the Annual Conference of the diocese of Rome, this time on the theme: “Jesus is risen: educating to hope in prayer, in action and in suffering ”. Then at the weekend, 14 and 15 June, the Pope made a pastoral visit to Santa Maria di Leuca and Brindisi.
On 28 June, the vigil of Saints Peter and Paul at St Paul's Basilica the Pope was joined by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and representatives of other Churches and communions, to celebrate 1st Vespers of the Feast and to open the specially convoked 'Year of St Paul'. The next day, Sunday 29 June, in St Peter's Basilica the Pope celebrated the traditional Mass for the imposition of the Pallium on the shoulders of some forty new Catholic Archbishops from all over the world. The Pallium, since early Christian times a symbol of unity and communion, is worn by the Archbishop when he celebrates Mass in his own archdiocese.
Finally, the Pope launched heartfelt appeals in June: calling on the 19 for “longed for peace and stability and respect for basic human rights in” in Lebanon and Iraq and on the 27 "for the life of the Catholic Church in China".


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