Pope Benedict XVI travelled on his 17th Pastoral Journey today – to the city of Brescia, in Northern Italy. Brescia is a beautiful place, resting at the foot of the Alps. It’s a city of just over 100,000 souls, and the second largest municipality in the province of Lombardy – Milan being larger. It is also the birthplace of Giovanni Battista Montini (1897 – 1978) who was known to the Universal Church as Pope Paul VI (1963 - 1978).
Pope Benedict made the visit to show his devotion to Pope Paul VI, who died thirty years ago. Whilst there the Holy Father opened the new headquarters of the Pope Paul VI Institute – a collection of study centres, halls, archives and an art gallery. Pope Benedict also conferred the International Paul VI Prize during his visit. The honour was bestowed on a French charity - Sources Chrétiennes. This prize, according to the late Pope John Paul II, is the Catholic equivalent of the secular world’s Nobel Peace Prize.
During Mass, celebrated in the Pope Paul VI Square in the city, Pope Benedict paid tribute to the man who had elevated him to the College of Cardinals in 1977. Sometimes a divisive figure Paul VI, even in ill health, led the Church through turbulent times and the necessary reforms of Vatican II – reforms, began by Blessed John XXIII, and which are still only in the earliest processes of being properly implemented. He wrote several important encyclicals, including the famous Populorum progressio. He was also especially devoted to Our Lady, the Mother of the Church. Pope Benedict made specific reference to Pope Paul's Marian devotion this afternoon.
How apt that this visit should have been made today, Remembrance Sunday here in Britain, as it was Pope Paul VI who famously addressed the UN General Assembly in 1965 with the powerful words: -
“No more war, never again war. Peace, it is peace that must guide the destinies of people and of all mankind.”
* Arnold of Brescia, by Sophia Skelton (1866)
[Picture note: Pope Paul VI]
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