To Archbishop Raymundo Damasceno Assis
Archbishop of Aparecida, Brazil

Your Excellency,

At the time when the 75th anniversary of Pope Pius XI's proclamation of "Nossa Senhora Aparecida" as Patronness of Brazil is being celebrated, I communicate by this Letter to Your Excellency the most cordial good wishes of His Holiness Benedict XVI for this important Jubilee.

In fact, with a view to encouraging the spiritual good of the faithful in Brazil and to increasingly extend devotion to the Immaculate Conception, the Bull of Proclamation truly testified to the extraordinary repercussion of this providential decision, given the current widespread practice of this devotion in the Land of the Holy Cross.

The Supreme Pontiff, as a sign of his benevolence and his fatherly affection towards all the devout people, expresses the hope that the Queen and Patroness of Brazil may be ever more widely recognized and praised as the Mother of Our Lord God and our Mother, so that her powerful intercession may guide us all unerringly to Our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

With these hopes, the Holy Father willingly imparts his Apostolic Blessing, which he extends to the Reverend Redemptorist Missionaries and to all the pilgrim people, and he offers, as a sign of his affection to all and of his spiritual presence, a sacred Chalice, confirming once again the value of the Eucharist as "the source and the summit of all preaching of the Gospel" (Presbyterorum Ordinis, n. 5).

Your Excellency, please accept my sentiments of high esteem and consideration in Christ Our Lord, with my deep respects,

Cardinal Angelo Sodano
Secretary of State