Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
During the month of August the Sunday and feast day appointments for the recitation of the Angelus prayer and for the Wednesday General Audiences took place in the courtyard of the Pope's Summer Residence in the hillside town of Castel Gandolfo, where the Holy Father Benedict XVI returned after a brief holiday in the northern Italian mountains in Valle d’Aosta. On August 1 the Holy Father granted a special audience to participants in the World Swimming Championships held this year in Rome. On August 15, solemnity of the Assumption into Heaven of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Pope took a five minute walk from his Summer Residence to the parish church of San Tommaso da Villanova of Castel Gandolfo where he celebrated Mass. On August 23, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State, sent a message on behalf of the Pope to participants at the 30th Rimini Meeting for friendship among peoples.
