Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On Saturday 2 December 2006, in St Peter’s Basilica Pope Benedict XVI will preside the First Vespers of the First Sunday of Advent. On Thursday 14 December the Pope will address university students gathered in St Peter’s for their annual Christmas Mass, an initiative started by Pope John Paul in 1979. At 5pm the students will take part in Mass presided by the Pope’s vicar for the diocese of Rome Cardinal Camillo Ruini, and at the end of Mass the Pope will come down to the Basilica to address them.
The Mass will be preceded by the arrival in Rome from Roma Bulgaria of the Icon of Maria Sedes Sapientiae, on the occasion of the 5th European Meeting for University Students10 - 14 December. The icon will be venerated at a few parishes in Rome and then at the end of the meeting with the Pope, it will be handed over from the Bulgarian student delegation to the delegation of Albanian students who will care for it until 10 March 2007. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 2/12/2006, righe 13, parole 169)
