VATICAN CITY, MAY 1, 2006 (VIS) - This afternoon Pope Benedict XVI visited the Sanctuary of "Divino Amore" (Divine Love), located south of Rome. He prayed the rosary before the image of the Virgin in the ancient sanctuary and afterward visited the new sanctuary, consecrated by Pope John Paul II in 1999.
Addressing the faithful present after prayer, the Holy Father expressed his joy to be able to renew "the experience of my beloved predecessor John Paul II, who on the first day of May twenty seven years ago, made his first visit as pope to this sanctuary".
"We have prayed the Holy Rosary, recalling the five joyful mysteries that bring before our hearts the first events of the story of our salvation, from the conception of Jesus by the work of the Holy Spirit until the finding of Jesus in the temple, when he was already twelve years old".
After having related what he wrote in his encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est" that "Mary is a woman who loves", Pope Benedict underlined that she is "the fruit and sign of God's love for us, of His tenderness and mercy. For this, united with our brothers in the faith throughout history and in all places, we direct to her all our needs and hopes, in the joyful and sorrowful vicissitudes of life. In these moments, I think of the families from the island of Ischia, victims of the landslide yesterday".
"From this sanctuary, we hope for great spiritual assistance and support for the diocese of Rome, for me, her bishop, for the other bishops, my collaborators, for the priests, families and for vocations, for the poor, those who suffer, the sick, the children, the elderly, and for all of the beloved Italian nation".
"We hope in a special way, for the inner strength necessary to complete the vow made by the Romans on June 4, 1944, when they solemnly petitioned the Virgin of Divine Love to rescue the city from the horrors of the war, and they were heard".
On June 4 of that year, the image of the Virgin was exposed in the Roman church of Saint Ignatius to ask for the liberation of the city, then occupied by the Nazis. The Romans made the promise, recalled the pope, to "correct and improve their moral conduct so that it would conform to the Lord Jesus".
"Also today, there is the need for a conversion to God, to Divine Love, so that the world may be liberated from wars and terrorism. We remember with sorrow the military officers killed last Thursday in Nasiriya, Iraq, whom we entrust to the maternal intercession of Mary, Queen of Peace."
At the end of the discourse, the Holy Father returned via helicopter to the Vatican.
BXVI-VISIT/SANCTUARY OF DIVINE LOVE/... VIS 20060502 (470)
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