* Original message posted in: VATICAN.   
   * Crossposted in: IN_CATHOLIC.   
      
   VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
      
   TWENTIETH YEAR - N. 195   
   ENGLISH   
   SATURDAY, 6 NOVEMBER 2010   
      
   SUMMARY OF POPE'S APOSTOLIC TRIP TO SPAIN:   
      
   - Benedict XVI: I Have Come as a Pilgrim to Santiago   
   - Live Lives Enlightened by the Truth of Christ   
      
   OTHER NEWS:   
      
    - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
   BENEDICT XVI: I HAVE COME AS A PILGRIM TO SANTIAGO   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 6 NOV 2010 (VIS) - This morning Benedict XVI began the   
   nineteenth apostolic trip of his pontificate, which is taking him to two   
   places of ancient Catholic tradition in Spain: Santiago de Compostela,   
   traditionally associated with the practice of pilgrimages to the tomb of the   
   Apostle James the Great and currently celebrating a Jubilee Year, and   
   Barcelona where the Pope will consecrate the as-yet-unfinished church of the   
   Sagrada Famila, 128 years after building work began.   
      
     Santiago de Compostela, the first stop on the Holy Father's trip, owes its   
   name to the Apostle St. James (Santiago in Spanish) and to the Latin phrase   
   "campus stellae" (Compostela), a reference to the star which, according to   
   tradition, indicated the site containing the remains of the Apostle who,   
   following his martyrdom in Jerusalem, was miraculously transported to Spain.   
   At the site of the discovery of the saint's body, which took place in the   
   year 823, King Alfonso II ordered a church to be built and entrusted it to   
   the Benedictine monks, but in 997 it was destroyed by the Muslim troops of   
   Almanzor. Rebuilt and transformed by King Bermudo II, it eventually became   
   the third most important pilgrimage site after Jerusalem and Rome. In 1985   
   the city of Santiago de Compostela was declared by UNESCO as a world   
   heritage site.   
      
     The Pope departed from Rome's Fiumicino airport at 8.30 a.m. and landed at   
   Santiago de Compostela at 11.30 a.m., where he was welcomed at the steps of   
   his aircraft by Their Royal Highnesses Felipe de Borbon y Borbon and Letizia   
   Ortiz Rocasolano, Prince and Princess of Asturias, and by Archbishop Julian   
   Barrio Barrio of Santiago de Compostela.   
      
     The welcome ceremony took place at the airport's southern terminal,   
   inaugurated for this occasion, and was attended by authorities from the   
   central government, the autonomous region of Galicia, and the town hall of   
   Santiago, as well as by Spanish cardinals, the executive committee of the   
   Spanish Episcopal Conference and several hundred faithful. After the playing   
   of the national anthems and a speech by the Prince of Asturias, the Pope   
   addressed some words to those present.   
      
     "I have come as a pilgrim in this Holy Year of Compostela and I bring in   
   my heart the same love of Christ which led the Apostle Paul to embark upon   
   his journeys, with a desire also to come to Spain. I wish to join the great   
   host of men and women who down the centuries have come to Compostela from   
   every corner of this peninsula, from throughout Europe and indeed the whole   
   world, in order to kneel at the feet of St. James and be transformed by the   
   witness of his faith. They, at every step and filled with hope, created a   
   pathway of culture, prayer, mercy and conversion, which took shape in   
   churches and hospitals, in inns, bridges and monasteries. In this way, Spain   
   and Europe developed a spiritual physiognomy indelibly marked by the Gospel.   
      
     "Precisely as a herald and witness of the Gospel", the Holy Father added,   
   "I am also going to Barcelona, in order to nourish the faith of its   
   welcoming and dynamic people. A faith sown already at the dawn of   
   Christianity, one which blossomed and grew in the warmth of countless   
   examples of holiness, giving rise to countless institutions of beneficence,   
   culture and education. A faith which inspired the gifted architect Antoni   
   Gaudi to undertake in that city, with the fervour and co-operation of many   
   people, that marvel which is the church of the Sagrada Familia. It will fall   
   happily to me to dedicate that church, which reflects all the grandeur of   
   the human spirit in its openness to God.   
      
     "I am very pleased to be once again in Spain, which has given the world a   
   constellatio   
   n of great saints, founders and poets, like Ignatius of Loyola,   
   Teresa of Jesus, John of the Cross, Francis Xavier, among many others; in   
   the twentieth century it raised up new institutions, groups and communities   
   of Christian life and apostolic activity and, in recent decades, it has   
   advanced in harmony and unity, in freedom and peace, looking to the future   
   with hope and responsibility. Moved by her rich patrimony of human and   
   spiritual values, she seeks likewise to progress amid difficulties and to   
   offer her solidarity to the international community".   
      
     Benedict XVI continued his remarks: "These contributions and initiatives   
   which have distinguished your long past, as well as the present, together   
   with the significance of the two beautiful places I will visit on this   
   occasion, lead me to look also to all the peoples of Spain and Europe. Like   
   the Servant of God John Paul II, who from Compostela exhorted the old   
   continent to give a new impulse to its Christian roots, I too wish to   
   encourage Spain and Europe to build their present and to project their   
   future on the basis of the authentic truth about man, on the basis of the   
   freedom which respects this truth and never harms it, and on the basis of   
   justice for all, beginning with the poorest and the most defenceless; a   
   Spain and a Europe concerned not only with people's material wants but also   
   with their moral and social, spiritual and religious needs, since all these   
   are genuine requirements of our common humanity and only in this way can   
   work be done effectively, integrally and fruitfully for man's good", the   
   Pope concluded. He then completed his remarks with some words in Galician.   
      
     "Dear friends, I renew my thanks for your kind welcome and for your   
   presence at this airport. I renew my affection and closeness to the beloved   
   sons and daughters of Galicia, Catalonia and the other peoples of Spain. In   
   commending my stay among you to the intercession of the Apostle St. James, I   
   ask God to bestow his blessings on all of you. Thank you very much".   
      
     Following the welcome ceremony, the Holy Father held a brief private   
   meeting in the airport's VIP room with the Prince and Princes of Asturias,   
   before travelling by popemobile to the city of Santiago de Compostela.   
   PV-SPAIN/                                                               VIS   
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   LIVE LIVES ENLIGHTENED BY THE TRUTH OF CHRIST   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 6 NOV 2010 (VIS) - On his arrival at the cathedral of Santiago   
   de Compostela, the Pope entered the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament before   
   going on to greet faithful from the Portico de la Gloria, a granite   
   construction dating from the twelfth century the columns of which are   
   decorated with the figures of Christ, the Apostles, saints, prophets,   
   angels, symbolic creatures and episodes from the Bible.   
      
     The Holy Father then exited the cathedral by the Royal Door and re-entered   
   by the Holy Door. After a moment of prayer before the tomb of St. James he   
   gave the traditional embrace to the statue of the Apostle.   
      
     Then, following a brief greeting by Archbishop Julian Barrio Barrio of   
   Santiago de Compostela, the Pope pronounced his address.   
      
     "To go on pilgrimage", he said, "is not simply to visit a place to admire   
   its treasures of nature, art or history. To go on pilgrimage really means to   
   step out of ourselves in order to encounter God where He has revealed   
   Himself, where His grace has shone with particular splendour and produced   
   rich fruits of conversion and holiness among those who believe".   
      
     "In this Holy Year of Compostela, I too, as the Successor of Peter, wished   
   to come in pilgrimage to the 'House of St. James', as it prepares to   
   celebrate the eight-hundredth anniversary of its consecration. I have come   
   to confirm your faith, to stir up your hope and to entrust to the Apostle's   
   intercession your aspirations, struggles and labours in the service of the   
   Gospel. As I embraced the venerable statue of the saint, I also prayed for   
   all the children of the Church, which has her origin in the mystery of the   
   communion that is God".   
      
     Benedict XVI explained how the "Chur   
   ch is this embrace of God, in which   
   men and women learn also to embrace their brothers and sisters and to   
   discover in them the divine image and likeness which constitutes the deepest   
   truth of their existence, and which is the origin of genuine freedom.   
      
     "Truth and freedom are closely and necessarily related", he added.   
   "Honestly seeking and aspiring to truth is the condition of authentic   
   freedom. One cannot live without the other. The Church, which desires to   
   serve unreservedly the human person and his dignity, stands at the service   
   of both truth and freedom. She cannot renounce either, because what is at   
   stake is man himself, because she is moved by love for man, 'the only   
   creature on earth which God has wanted for its own sake', and because   
   without this aspiration for truth, justice and freedom, man would lose his   
   very self.   
      
     The Pope continued: "From Compostela, the spiritual heart of Galicia and   
   at the same time a school of unbounded universality, allow me to exhort all   
   the faithful of this beloved archdiocese, and those of the Church in Spain,   
   to live their lives enlightened by the truth of Christ, confessing the faith   
   with joy, consistency and simplicity, at home, at work and in their   
   commitment as citizens.   
      
     "May the joy of knowing that you are God's beloved children bring you to   
   an ever deeper love for the Church and to co-operate with her in her work of   
   leading all men and women to Christ", the Holy Father told the faithful.   
   "Pray to the Lord of the harvest that many young people will devote   
   themselves to this mission in the priestly ministry and in the consecrated   
   life. Today, it is as worthwhile as ever to dedicate one's whole life to the   
   proclamation of the newness of the Gospel.   
      
     "I cannot conclude without first expressing my appreciation and gratitude   
   to the Catholics of Spain for the generosity with which they support so many   
   institutions of charity and of human development. Continue to maintain these   
   works which benefit society as a whole, and whose effectiveness has been   
   shown in a special way in the present economic crisis, as well as when grave   
   natural disasters have affected certain countries".   
      
     Speaking then in Galician, Pope Benedict asked "Almighty God to grant all   
   of you the boldness which St. James showed in bearing witness to the Risen   
   Christ. In this way, may you remain faithful in the ways of holiness and   
   spend yourselves for the glory of God and the good of our brothers and   
   sisters in greatest need".   
      
     Having concluded his remarks the Pope placed some incense in the   
   "botafumeiro", the cathedral's thurible, which is used during important   
   ceremonies and is famous for its enormous size. Operated by eight men known   
   as " tiraboleiros", it swings back and forth as the hymn of the Apostle   
   James is sung and always arouses the admiration of pilgrims. The current   
   botafumeiro is made of gilded brass, it is 1.1 metres high and weighs 50   
   kilograms. It was constructed in Santiago in the middle of last century.   
      
     After the ceremony, the Pope went to the archbishopric where he had lunch   
   with Spanish cardinals, the executive committee of the Spanish Episcopal   
   Conference and members of his entourage.   
   PV-SPAIN/                                                               VIS   
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   OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 6 NOV 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Roberto Bordi   
   O.F.M., pastor at Magdalena in the apostolic vicariate of El Beni, Bolivia,   
   as auxiliary of the same apostolic vicariate (area 150,686, population   
   201,695, Catholics 161,321, priests 19, permanent deacons 2, religious 70).   
   The bishop-elect was born in Rome in 1946 and ordained a priest in 1971.   
   NEA/                                                                    VIS   
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    - Origin: VIS - Ufficio Stampa della Santa Sede (1:396/3)    
   --- timEd/2 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS-Meridian, MS-bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)