VATICAN CITY, JAN. 6, 2008 (<A href="www.zenit.org">Zenit.org</A>)- In the course of 2007, there have been almost 3 million faithful and pilgrims that have participated at public gatherings with Benedict XVI at the Vatican and at the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo.
The figures were released by the prefecture of the Papal Household, according to whom 2,830,100 persons were present at the Wednesday general audiences, special audiences, liturgical celebrations and at the Sunday recitation of the Angelus.
There were 729,000 faithful who were present in St. Peter’s Square or in the Paul the VI Hall at the 44 Wednesday general audiences in the last 12 months. In 2006, the figure was 1,031,500. There was one less Wednesday audience in 2007 than in 2006.
The figures for the traditional Wednesday audiences refer to the number of tickets distributed without taking into account the people who entered without tickets.
For the recitation of the Sunday Angelus, in the course of 2007, there were 1,450,000 persons who came to St. Peter’s Square -- 155,000 more than last year. There were 442,000 faithful who participated in the liturgical celebrations.
Last April, a record-breaking 130,000 attended the Wednesday audiences, and 250,000 attended liturgical celebrations.
