BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, SEPT. 9, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI’s special envoy to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast will begin his visit in Baton Rouge on Sunday and preside at the 10 a.m. Mass at St. Joseph’s Cathedral.
Archbishop Paul Cordes, the envoy, is president of the Pontifical Council «Cor Unum.»
The Mass will be concelebrated by Archbishop Alfred Hughes of New Orleans, Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb of Mobile, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, D.C., retired Archbishop Philip Hannan of New Orleans and Bishop Robert Muench of Baton Rouge.
«Archbishop Cordes is bringing a gift to us, and he wants to be pastorally present to us in the name of the Holy Father,» Archbishop Hughes said.
After Mass, Archbishop Cordes will join Archbishop Hughes and Bishop Muench in a pastoral visit to shelters in the Baton Rouge area.
Archbishop Cordes also hopes to tour hurricane-ravaged areas by helicopter on Monday, and then visit the Diocese of Biloxi.
Meanwhile, U.S. President George Bush announced Sept. 16 to be the «National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the Victims of Hurricane Katrina.»
