Instrumentum mensis Augusti pro lectura Magisterii Summi Pontificis Benedicti XVI, pro evangelizatione in terris missionum

Saturday, 13 September 2008

The Holy Father, Benedict XVI, a guest of the northern Italian town and diocese of Brixen from July 28 returned on 11 August to his Summer Residence in Castel Gandolfo. During this period he continued to lead the Sunday Angelus prayer from wherever he was, whereas the Wednesday general audiences, suspended from 30 July to August 6, resumed regularly on Wednesday 13 August. After devoting two catechesis to certain Saints of our epoch whose feast days the Church had celebrated during the month of August, the Pope continued the cycle of teaching on St Paul Apostle of the nations begun in July.
On 5 August Benedict XVI went to Oies in Val Badia to visit to the birthplace of Divine Word Missionary Saint Joseph Freinademetz, a great missionary to China, and the Pope said: “He is a very modern Saint: we know that China is becoming increasingly significant in political and economic life and also in the life of ideas. It is important that this great country open itself to the Gospel. And St Joseph Freinademetz shows us that faith does not mean alienation for any culture, for any people, because all cultures are waiting for Christ and are not destroyed by the Lord: indeed, [in him] they reach their maturity. ”
On August 6 during a meeting with the diocesan clergy in Brixen Cathedral the Holy Father answered questions posed by a few of the numerous priests and seminarians present. On 9 August, on the premises of the Diocesan Seminary where he was staying, Pope Benedict received honorary citizen of the town from the hands of the mayor of Brixen. On the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady on 15 August, the Pope celebrated Mass in Castel Gandolfo at the parish church. In his homily he said “Today's feast impels us to lift our gaze to Heaven; not to a heaven consisting of abstract ideas or even an imaginary heaven created by art, but the Heaven of true reality which is God himself. God is Heaven. He is our destination, the destination and the eternal dwelling place from which we come and for which we are striving.”
On 21 August, Benedict XVI sent a letter expressing condolence for the sudden death on 16 August of his friend and host in Brixen, Bishop Wilhelm Egger of Bozen-Brixen. During his Sunday Angelus reflections on 10, 17 and 24 August, Benedict XVI expressed concern for the difficult international situation - especially the turmoil in Georgia – and he urged international bodies to work to find a peaceful and lasting solution. On 31 August, speaking of the dramatic migratory phenomenon, the Holy Father called for effective measures and solidarity on the part of everyone.


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