IN BRIEF

THE PREFECTURE OF THE PONTIFICAL HOUSEHOLD has announced that the sermons for Advent 2006 will take place in the Vatican's "Redemptoris Mater" Chapel on December 15 and 22 on the theme: "Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. The Evangelical Beatitudes." According to a note from the prefecture, "the Beatitudes are a spiritual self-portrait of Jesus." This year, the focus will be on the Beatitudes of the persecuted and the meek "particularly appropriate to the liturgical spirit of Advent, and necessary to the Church in her current historical situation." The sermons will be delivered by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap., preacher of the pontifical household.

AT 11 A.M. ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, IN THE JOHN PAUL II HALL of the Holy See Press Office, a press conference will be held to present the recent restoration work on the sarcophagus of St. Paul in the Roman basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls. Participating in the conference will be Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, archpriest of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls, Giorgio Filippi, archeologist, and Pier Carlo Visconti, an official from the administration of the basilica.
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