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   POPE RECOLLECTS HIS APOSTOLIC TRIP TO SPAIN   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 10 NOV 2010 (VIS) - During his general audience, held this   
   morning in the Paul VI Hall, Benedict XVI reminisced about his recent apostolic   
   trip to the Spanish cities of Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona. "I went   
   there", he said, "to strengthen my brothers and sisters in the faith, and I did   
   so as a witness of the Risen Christ and a sower of the hope that does not   
   disappoint and does not fail".   
      
   From the beginning of the trip, during the welcome ceremony at Santiago de   
   Compostela, "I was able to experience the affection the people of Spain feel   
   towards Peter's Successor", he said. "In this Holy Year of Compostela, I wished   
   to become a pilgrim, along with the many others who have journeyed to that   
   famous shrine".   
      
   In the cathedral of Santiago, "where with great emotion I gave the traditional   
   embrace to the saint, I thought how that gesture of welcome and friendship is,   
   in fact, ... a powerful sign of the desire to conform ourselves to the   
   apostolic message. This message, on the one hand, commits us to being faithful   
   custodians of the Good News the Apostles transmitted, without succumbing to the   
   temptation to alter it, diminish it or distort it to other interests while, on   
   the other, it makes each of us tireless announcers of faith in Christ, with the   
   word and witness of our lives in all fields of society".   
      
   The Holy Father then turned his attention to the reasons that make so many   
   people leave their daily lives to follow the Route of Santiago. "In moments of   
   confusion, of searching, of difficulty, and in the desire to strengthen their   
   faith and live more coherent lives, the pilgrims of Compostela follow a   
   profound itinerary of conversion to Christ Who took the weakness and sins of   
   humanity, the misery of the world, on His own shoulders, and carried them to   
   where evil no longer has any power and where the light of goodness illuminates   
   all things. They are people from all over the world who walk silently,   
   rediscovering the ancient mediaeval and Christen tradition of pilgrimage as   
   they pass through towns and cities permeated by Catholicism".   
      
   "It is faith in Christ that gives meaning to Compostela, an extraordinary   
   spiritual place which continues to be a landmark for Europe today. ... Openness   
   to the transcendent, and fruitful dialogue between faith and reason, between   
   politics and religion, between economy and ethics, will enable us to build a   
   Europe which, faithful to its vital Christian roots, can fully respond to its   
   vocation. ... Thus, certain of the immense possibilities of the continent, and   
   trusting in its hopeful future, I invited Europe to open itself to God and so   
   favour prospects for authentic and respectful encounter, united with peoples   
   and civilisations of other continents".   
      
   Benedict XVI then spoke of the second stage of his apostolic trip, which took   
   him to Barcelona where he consecrated the church of the Sagrada Familia and   
   declared it as a minor basilica. Contemplating the beauty of that building,   
   "which invites us to raise our gaze and our souls to heaven, to God, I recalled   
   other great religious buildings, such as the cathedrals of the Middle Ages   
   which have profoundly marked the history and appearance of the major European   
   cities.   
      
   "That splendid work, rich in religious symbolism, ... almost like an immense   
   stone sculpture", he added, "draws us to the true shrine, the place of   
   authentic worship, heaven, where Christ entered to appear before God on our   
   behalf. The great architect of this magnificent temple brilliantly represented   
   the mystery of the Church into which the faithful are incorporated by Baptism   
   as living stones in the construction of a spiritual edifice".   
      
   The church of the Sagrada Familia was conceived by its architect, Antoni Gaudi,   
   "as an immense catechesis on Jesus Christ, as a hymn of praise to the Creator.   
   ... Indeed, the extraordinarily expressive and symbolic capacity of the   
   artistic forms and motifs, as well as the innovative architectural and   
   sculptural techniques, evoke the supreme Source of all beauty", said the Pope.   
   He then explained how Gaudi's own life, "from the moment he accepted the   
   commission to build the church, ... was marked by a profound change" as he felt   
   "the need to prepare himself spiritually in order to succeed in expressing the   
   unfathomable mystery of God in material reality".   
      
   The Holy Father went on: "In Barcelona I also visited the 'Obra Benefico-   
   Social Nen Deu', ... where handicapped children and young people are cared for   
   with love and professional skill. Their lives are precious in the eyes of God,   
   and they are a constant invitation to us to abandon our own selfishness".   
      
   Also in Barcelona, "I prayed intensely for families, the vital cells and the   
   hope of society and of the Church. I also recalled people who suffer,   
   especially at this time of severe economic difficulties. My thoughts also went   
   to the young, ... that they may discover the beauty, value and commitment of   
   Marriage in which a man and a woman form a family which generously accepts life   
   and accompanies it from conception until natural end. Everything done to   
   support marriage and the family, to help people in need, everything that serves   
   to enhance man's greatness and his inviolable dignity, also helps to perfect   
   society".   
      
   The Pope concluded his remarks by rendering thanks to God "for the intense few   
   days I spent in Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona". He expressed his   
   gratitude "to the King and Queen of Spain, to the Prince and Princess of   
   Asturias, to the authorities, ... to the archbishops of those two particular   
   Churches", and to "everyone whose efforts ensured my visit to those two   
   marvellous cities was fruitful. They were unforgettable days which will remain   
   inscribed in my heart".   
      
   Before this morning's general audience, in St. Peter's Basilica, the Pope had   
   received a group of pilgrims from the Italian town of Carpineto Romano who had   
   come to Rome to thank him for his visit there in September commemorating the   
   bicentenary of the birth of Pope Leo XIII.   
      
   Also in the basilica, the Pope then greeted a group of pilgrims from the Czech   
   Republic, who had likewise come to Rome to return the visit the Pope had made   
   to their country in September 2009. "I pray to the Lord", he told them, "that   
   He will cause the grace of that journey to bear fruit, and I hope that the   
   Christian people of the Czech Republic many continue to bear courageous witness   
   to the Gospel, with renewed enthusiasm and in all places".   
   AG/VIS 20101110 (1100)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
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