Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - On Thursday 15 December in St Peter’s Basilica students at Rome’s universities will have their first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. The tradition of meeting university students before Christmas was started by Pope John Paul II in 1979. The Rome diocesan office for university pastoral care said there will be a Mass at 5pm presided by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope’s vicar for the diocese of Rome, after which Pope Benedict XVI will descend to the Basilica to give a talk to the students. In preparation for the occasion Polish students will bring to Rome the famous icon Maria Sedes Sapientiae. The icon will visit a number of parishes in Rome and then at the end of the meeting with Benedict XVI it will be handed over to a delegation of university students from Bulgaria where the icon will be on pilgrimage until a Marian Prayer Vigil on March 11 2006. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 16/11/2005, righe 11, parole 159)
