VATICAN - Celebrations at the Papal Basilica of St Paul's outside the Walls for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul: Benedict XVI will call as “Pauline Year” to mark the 2000th anniversary of the birth of the Apostle of the Gentiles

Rome (Agenzia Fides) - As every year on the 26, 27, 28 and 29 June the Papal Basilica of St Paul's outside the Walls will hold three days of celebrations in honour of Saints Peter and Paul, the founders of the Church in Rome and the patrons saints of the city. Pope Benedict XVI will preside Vespers on Thursday 28 at 5.30pm and proclaim a special “Pauline Year” to mark the 2000th anniversary of the birth of the Apostle of the Gentiles around 6 and 10 AD, Fides was informed by the Benedictine Abbey at St Paul's
The celebrations will be as follows: Tuesday 26 June 5.30 Vespers presided by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Pope's Secretary of State' ; Wednesday 27 June 6pm Vespers with other Christian communities in Rome at the end of which the representatives of the different Christian Churches will proclaim the Hymn to charity (1 Corinthians 13) standing around the tomb of Saint Paul; Thursday 28 June 5.30 Vespers presided by Pope Benedict XVI who will announce officially the special “Bi-millennial Pauline Year”; Friday 29 June 5.30 Vespers presided by Abbot Edmund Power O.S.B in the presence of Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, Archpriest of the Basilica. The three days celebrations will conclude with a Procession at 8pm with the Chains of St Paul with the participation this year of representatives and members of the different Christian Churches in Rome. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 20/6/2007, righe 19, parole 264)