 | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||
|
AN OPEN-AIR Mass near the banks of the River Seine and a pilgrimage to Lourdes to mark the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary are among the highlights revealed this week when plans for Pope Benedict XVI's visit to France this September were released, writes Tom Heneghan. According to details unveiled by the French bishops' conference, the four-day visit begins on Friday 12 September, in Paris, where the Pope will meet President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysée Palace and preside at vespers in Notre Dame cathedral. On Saturday, Benedict will celebrate an open-air Mass on the esplanade between Les Invalides, the military hospital and museum complex in western Paris where Napoleon is buried, and the River Seine. Arriving in Lourdes on Saturday afternoon, he will visit three sites along the Jubilee Way pilgrimage route while in the evening, Pope Benedict will address pilgrims at the end of a torch-lit procession. The Pope will say an open-air Sunday Mass, meet French bishops and conclude the Eucharistic procession. On Monday, he will anoint the sick at another Mass and leave for Rome in the afternoon.  |
|||||||||||||||
