VATICAN CITY, 7 SEP 2008 (VIS) - At 8.30 a.m. today, Benedict XVI departed from Rome's Ciampino airport, landing at the airport of Cagliari-Elmas on the Italian island of Sardinia at 9.30 a.m. Having greeted the political, civil and ecclesiastical authorities, he travelled to the Shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria, which he visited briefly.
At 10.30 a.m., the Pope celebrated Mass in the presence of 100,000 people on the esplanade in front of the Marian shrine. The wooden statue of Our Lady of Bonaria - the centenary of whose proclamation as patroness of Sardinia falls this year - stood next to the altar during the ceremony.
In his homily, the Holy Father highlighted how "Christianity arrived in Sardinia not with the sword of the conquerors or through external imposition, but by growing from the blood of the martyrs who here gave their lives in an act of love towards God and mankind".
"Sardinia", he went on, "has never been a land of heresies; her people have always demonstrated filial faithfulness to Christ and to the See of Peter. ... Through the sequence of invasions and domination, faith in Christ has remained in the soul of your people as a constitutive element of your Sardinian identity. ... This simple and courageous faith continues to live in your communities and in your families, where one may inhale the evangelical fragrance of the virtues that distinguish your land: loyalty, dignity, reserve, sobriety and a sense of duty".
Going on to refer to the hundredth anniversary of the proclamation of the Virgin as patroness of the island, the Pope called on the faithful "to give thanks to Mary for her protection and to reiterate our faith in her, recognising her as the 'Star of the new evangelisation'".
The Holy Father asked the Virgin to help the people of Sardinia "to bring Christ to families, small domestic Churches and cells of society, which today more than ever need trust and support at both a spiritual and social level".
May Mary, he said, "help you to discover appropriate pastoral strategies to ensure that young people encounter Christ", young people who "by their nature are bearers of fresh energy but are often victims of a widespread nihilism, thirsty for truth and for ideals precisely when they seem to deny them. May she help you evangelise the world of work, of the economy and of politics, which needs a new generation of committed lay Christians, capable of seeking solutions of sustainable development with competency and moral rigour".
At the end of the Eucharistic celebration, Benedict XVI performed an act of consecration to Mary which concluded with the consignment of a golden rose to Our Lady of Bonaria.
PV-ITALY/MASS/CAGLIARI VIS 20080908 (460)
At 10.30 a.m., the Pope celebrated Mass in the presence of 100,000 people on the esplanade in front of the Marian shrine. The wooden statue of Our Lady of Bonaria - the centenary of whose proclamation as patroness of Sardinia falls this year - stood next to the altar during the ceremony.
In his homily, the Holy Father highlighted how "Christianity arrived in Sardinia not with the sword of the conquerors or through external imposition, but by growing from the blood of the martyrs who here gave their lives in an act of love towards God and mankind".
"Sardinia", he went on, "has never been a land of heresies; her people have always demonstrated filial faithfulness to Christ and to the See of Peter. ... Through the sequence of invasions and domination, faith in Christ has remained in the soul of your people as a constitutive element of your Sardinian identity. ... This simple and courageous faith continues to live in your communities and in your families, where one may inhale the evangelical fragrance of the virtues that distinguish your land: loyalty, dignity, reserve, sobriety and a sense of duty".
Going on to refer to the hundredth anniversary of the proclamation of the Virgin as patroness of the island, the Pope called on the faithful "to give thanks to Mary for her protection and to reiterate our faith in her, recognising her as the 'Star of the new evangelisation'".
The Holy Father asked the Virgin to help the people of Sardinia "to bring Christ to families, small domestic Churches and cells of society, which today more than ever need trust and support at both a spiritual and social level".
May Mary, he said, "help you to discover appropriate pastoral strategies to ensure that young people encounter Christ", young people who "by their nature are bearers of fresh energy but are often victims of a widespread nihilism, thirsty for truth and for ideals precisely when they seem to deny them. May she help you evangelise the world of work, of the economy and of politics, which needs a new generation of committed lay Christians, capable of seeking solutions of sustainable development with competency and moral rigour".
At the end of the Eucharistic celebration, Benedict XVI performed an act of consecration to Mary which concluded with the consignment of a golden rose to Our Lady of Bonaria.
PV-ITALY/MASS/CAGLIARI VIS 20080908 (460)
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