Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Castel Gandolfo (Agenzia Fides) - On Sunday 1 October, before reciting the midday Angelus prayer with visitors gathered in his Summer Residence, Pope Benedict XVI mentioned the feast day of St Teresa of the Child Jesus, the start of the month of October dedicated to the Rosary prayer and to the missions which will culminate on 22 October Mission Sunday. The Angelus was the last in Castel Gandolfo as later in the day the Pope returned to the Vatican.
“When on 7 October we celebrate the feast of Our Lady Queen of the Rosary, it is as if every year Our Lady urges us to discover the beauty of this prayer, so simple yet so profound” the Pope said recalling John Paul II “great apostle of the Rosary”. Pope Benedict XVI said the prayer of the Rosary “is contemplative and Christ-centred… it is the prayer of the Christian on the pilgrimage of faith, following Jesus, guided by Mary”, and he encouraged those present “to recite the Rosary this month in families, in communities, in parishes for the intentions of the Pope, the Mission of the Church and for peace in the world”.
October is the month of Missions and Sunday 22 October is World Mission Sunday the Pope said. "In my message for World Mission Sunday I presented charity as the ‘soul of mission’. St Paul the Apostle of the nations said: "Love for Christ urges us on". May all Christians make these words their own in the joyful experience of being missionaries of Love wherever Divine Providence has placed them and serving neighbour with humility and courage with no secondary aims, and drawing from prayer the strength for happy and active charity.”
Lastly the Pope mentioned the feast day on 1 October of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus the universal patron saint of the missions with Francis Xavier. He recalled that Therese showed Christians the "little way" to holiness of complete trust in God’s love, “May she help us all to be credible witnesses to the Gospel of Charity. May Mary Most Holy, Our Lady of the Rosary, Queen of Missions, lead us all to Christ the Saviour” the Pope said
After greeting those present in different languages the Pope asked for prayers for peace and harmony in Iraq: “Yesterday I had the joy of meeting His Beatitude Emmanuel III Delly, Patriarch Babylon of the Chaldeans, who told me of the tragic situation which the beloved people of Iraq have to face every day. In Iraq Christians and Muslims have lived side by side as children of the same land for 14 centuries. I hope these bonds of brotherhood will not loosen, with sentiments of my spiritual closeness I invite all the join me in asking Almighty God to grant the gift of peace and harmony to that martyred country.”
On the occasion of the United Nations World Habitat Day (1st Monday in October) the Pope voiced encouragement for “all who work at the local and international levels to guarantee people living in degraded city outskirts, worthy living conditions, basic needs and opportunity to realise aspirations particularly within the family and in peaceful social co-existence”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 2/10/2006 - righe 37, parole 506)
