VATICAN CITY, JUNE 1, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI’s agenda for the coming months includes the end of the Pauline Jubilee Year and the start of the Year for Priests, as well as his annual vacation and his 13th apostolic journey.
Additionally, it is rumored that this month will see the release of the Pope’s third encyclical, this one dedicated to social issues.
The Vatican released today the Holy Father’s itinerary through September of public liturgical celebrations and trips.
That Friday, June 19, feast of the Sacred Heart, the Holy Father will open the Year for Priests with Vespers in St. Peter’s Basilica.
On Sunday, June 21, he will make a one-day pastoral trip to the tomb of Padre Pio.
The next week, June 28, the Pontiff will close the Pauline Jubilee Year with Vespers celebrated at St. Paul’s Outside the Walls.
He will close June with a public Mass for the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul on the 29th. That Mass will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. in St. Peter’s Basilica and include the conferring of the pallium on new metropolitan archbishops.
June 29 is also the day that might bring the release of the new encyclical, according to the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Cardinal Renato Martino.
Getting away
The Vatican did not report any public papal events for July. That month, Benedict XVI will take his customary summer vacation, returning this year to the Aosta Valley.
Upon his return from northern Italy, he will go to the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, where he will resume his normal audiences.
There, the Holy Father will celebrate the feast of the Assumption on Aug. 15 with an 8 a.m. Mass at the parish church of St Thomas of Villanova.
In September, the Bishop of Rome has two trips scheduled, a one-day pastoral visit to Viterbo-Bagnoregio, Italy, and a three day journey to the Czech Republic that will begin Sept. 26.
