Maria, ster van de evangelisatie

Pope Benedict XVI prayed for the victims of recent flooding in Thailand and Italy. The Holy Father began his remarks to the faithful following the Angelus prayer this Sunday in St Peter’s Square by recalling the devastation in both countries. “Dear brothers and sisters,” he said, “I express my closeness to the people of Thailand hit by serious flooding, as well as in Italy, to those of Liguria and Tuscany, recently damaged by the consequences of heavy rains.”

Assisi 2011 was the theme of a press conference held in the Vatican on Tuesday looking ahead to next week’s Day of Reflection, Dialogue and Prayer for Peace and Justice in the World. Organised by the Pontifical Councils for Christian Unity, for Interreligious Dialogue, for Justice and Peace and for Culture, next Thursday’s event was called for by Pope Benedict on January 1^st and will bring together in the Umbrian hill town some 300 representatives of all the world’s major religions, as Philippa Hitchen reports:

“We must give ourselves much exercise both in fraternal correction, which requires a great deal of humility and simplicity of heart, and in prayer, so that what we offer up to God in Heaven might be the prayer of a community truly united in Christ.” These were some of the words Pope Benedict XVI spoke to the faithful gathered in the courtyard of the Papal Summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, for the Sunday Angelus. Reflecting on the Sunday Gospel readings, which focus on fraternal charity in the life of the community, the Holy Father recalled how the brotherly love also involves a "sense of mutual responsibility," which includes calling a brother who has fallen into sin back to the right path - first personally and then, gradually, at the community level.