PASTORAL VISIT TO OUR LADY
STAR OF EVANGELIZATION PARISH OF ROME

GREETING OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO THE PARISHIONERS
BEFORE THE EUCHARISTIC CELEBRATION

II Sunday of Advent, 10 December 2006

Good morning, dear Brothers and Sisters,

Thank you for coming and for your affection. I am happy to celebrate this Sunday with you.

Unfortunately, it is a little chilly but the Lord will help us at this time when we desire with great joy to dedicate this church, so that it may be the spiritual and human centre of this neighbourhood. May the Lord unite us to him and thus grant us unity with one another.

I cordially greet the leaders, children, young people and families of the Gioventù Ardente Mariana Movement of Rome, who kept vigil last night in the chapel here adjacent to their diocesan premises, in expectation of this meeting, for prayer and festivity.

Dear friends, I urge you to continue in your work of formation for the mission, faithful to those whom you like to describe as the "three white loves": the Eucharist, Mary Most Holy and the Successor of Peter the Apostle.

I willingly bless you, your intentions of evangelization and your new diocesan headquarters:  In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

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