VATICAN - The Pope before the Angelus prayer expresses the hope that shared veneration of the Martyrs Peter and Paul may be a "pledge of ever fuller and ever more sincere communion among Christians all over the world ” and announces his third Encyclical, “Caritas in veritate”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – On the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, patrons saints of the Church of Rome, in his Angelus reflection on 29 June, the Pope addressed the diocese of Rome, citizens and visitors in Rome: “As your Bishop, I urge you to be faithful to your Christian vocation and not to conform to the mentality of the world – as the Apostle of the nations wrote to the Christians in Rome - . let yourselves be continually transformed and renewed by the Gospel, so you follow what is truly good and pleasing to God. I pray continually that Rome may be faithful to its Christian vocation not only keeping unchanged its immense spiritual and cultural heritage, but also that the Roman people may express the beauty of the faith received in concrete ways of thinking and behaving, and so offer those who come to this City for many different reasons, an atmosphere imbued with humanity and the values of the Gospel ”.
Underlining the universal nature of the Solemnity, which “expresses the universality and the catholicity of the Church”, the Pope mentioned the new metropolitan archbishops and the Pallium they receive, “a symbol of communion with the Successor of Peter”, and he greeted the delegation from the Patriarchate of Constantinople which, as every year, had come Rome for the celebration of Saints Peter and Paul. “May common veneration of these Martyrs be a pledge of ever fuller and ever more sincere communion among Christians today all over the world ” the Pontiff concluded, before invoking the “the maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of the One Church of Christ ”, with the recitation of the Angelus prayer.
After the Marian prayer, Benedict XVI announced his third encyclical with these words: “ My third Encyclical with the title Caritas in veritate, will soon be made public. This document, which bears the date of today, June 29, solemnity of the Apostles, Saints Peter and Paul, takes up the social issues contained in Populorum progressio, written by the Servant of God Paul VI in 1967. The document reflects on certain aspects of integral development in our epoch in the light of charity in truth. I entrust to your prayers this new contribution which the Church offers humanity for sustainable progress with full respect for human dignity and the real needs of all ”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 30/6/2009; righe 27, parole 392)