Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Among the most significant events in this month of July 2009, we recall that on 4 July the Holy Father received in Audience the participants at a European Meeting on Vocation Pastoral and on the same day took part in Vespers for the reopening of the Cappella Paolina, in the Apostolic Palace, following restoration work. On July 8 there was the publication of a Letter of the Holy Father in the form of Ecclesiae unitatem Motu proprio concerning the new arrangement of the Pontifical Ecclesia Dei Commission. On July 11 the Pope received in audience participants at the First European Meeting of University Students. From Monday 13 to Wednesday 29 July, the Holy Father spent a period of rest at Les Combes in Introd in the Italian Alps. During that time he led a public recitation of the Angelus prayer on two Sundays, on the 19 at Romano Canavese and on 26 at Les Combes. On 24 July the Pope presided Vespers in the Cathedral of Aosta.
We recall a Papal message sent on 4 July to the Italian prime minister on the occasion of the G8 Meeting in L’Aquila.
We also mention appeals launched by the Holy Father in this period: in the Letter dated 4 July to the prime minister of Italy, he appealed to leaders of the G8 member countries, other countries and governments of the world to ensure that aid for development, in particular development to “valorise” the “human resource”, be maintained and increased, not only at times of crisis but because it is one of the principal paths towards a solution; at the end of the Angelus on 5 July, expressing grief for the railway tragedy in Viareggio (Italy), he said he hoped similar accidents might be avoided in the future, he deplored the terrorist attack in Cotabato in the Philippines, and once again condemned recourse to violence, which is never a solution; at the end of the Angelus on the 11 he urged the parties involved to take the path of dialogue to resolve the delicate situation in Honduras.
