PAUL VI, FOLLOWING THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST. PETER IN THE HOLY LAND

Vatican City, 15 November 2013 (VIS) - “4 to 5 January 1964. Paul VI's pilgrimage in the Holy Land: an historic event for the Catholic Church” is the title of the congress to be held today in the San Fedele Auditorium, Milan, in which the archdiocese and its archbishop, Cardinal Angelo Scola, pay homage to one of its most illustrious archbishops, Cardinal Giovanni Battisti Montini, on the fiftieth anniversary of his election to the See of St. Peter, in 1963.

The Congress will focus on Paul VI's journey in the Holy Lane, which made him the first pontiff to make this pilgrimage, following in the footsteps of St. Peter. This historic voyage is commemorated with a screening of the documentary “Return to the beginnings – Paul VI in the Holy Land”, produced in 1964 by the Guardian of the Holy Land and restored for the occasion, which shows the Holy Land prior the Six-Day War. The film's memorable images include the moving encounter between the Pope and the ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Atenagoras, in Jerusalem.