VATICAN - Year of the Eucharist: in St Peter’s Square tomorrow afternoon Pope Benedict XVI will hold special catechism class for a hundred thousand children who made their First Holy Communion this year

Vatican City (Fides Service) - Tomorrow afternoon about 100,000 children mainly from Italy but some from other countries who made their First Holy Communion this year will gather for a special celebration with Pope Benedict XVI. The children will be accompanied by parents, catechists and parish priests. This “special catechism meeting” was announced on June 12 by the Pope himself when he was underlining the important duty of parents to educate children to the value and importance of Christ’s call to Sunday Mass. “In this process of education First Holy Communion is a most significant step - the Pope said -, a celebration for the parish as it welcomes its youngest members to the Lord’s Table for the first time. To underline the importance of the event for every family and parish, on 15 October this year, God willing, I will hold a special meeting of catechesis with children from Rome and Lazio and further afield who made their First Holy Communion this year. This festive occasion will come almost at the end of the Year of the Eucharist and while the Bishops are holding their 11th ordinary assembly reflecting on the Eucharistic Mystery. It will be a good opportunity to reaffirm the essential place of the sacrament of the Eucharist in children’s spiritual growth and formation”.
The meeting, with the slogan “The Eucharist - our ‘Party’”, will start at 5pm and have two parts: musical performances and interventions by actors and artists on the theme of celebration and Eucharist until the Pope’s arrival in the Square. The second part will consist of Scripture readings (1Cor 11,23-26 and Lk 9,11-17), and the Pope’s homily in the form of dialogue in response to questions posed by children. The meeting will culminate with the litany of the Saints, Adoration and Benediction. See more information, programme, song texts etc at web site opened by the Vicariate of Rome diocese in collaboration with the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 14/10/2005, righe 26, parole 377)