Pope Francis has arrived in Sweden.
At about 8:30 this morning, the papal flight, Alitalia A321, carrying the Pope, his entourage and journalists, took off from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport.
The Holy Father’s visit to Sweden, for a joint Lutheran-Catholic commemoration of the Reformation, marks his 17th international Apostolic Trip, and his 26th nation visited.
After about 2 hours 40 minutes of flying, Pope Francis arrived, slightly early, at Malmö’s International Airport at approximately 11 a.m. local time, where a welcoming ceremony was held.
On the way to Malmö, the Pope said the following words to the journalists aboard the papal flight: «Good morning to you all. I thank your company and your work. This trip is an important trip because it is an ecclesial, ecumenical journey. Your work will help very much to understand, so that people can understand [it] well. Thank you very much.»
During his intense itinerary today, the Pope will partake in joint ecumenical prayer gathering in the Lutheran Cathedral of Lund, and in an ecumenical event in the Malmö Arena, where he will conclude the day by meeting with the ecumenical delegations.
Tomorrow morning, before departing, he will celebrate Holy Mass in Malmö for Swedish Catholics.
Before leaving Italy, Pope Francis sent President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, a telegram in which he explains that his trip to Sweden is for «the ecumenical commemoration of 500th anniversary of the Reformation and to meet the nation’s Catholic community.» He also extended his «respectful greetings» to President Mattarella and imparted his apostolic blessing to the Italian people.
As is customary, the Pope sent telegrams to the Heads of States of the countries he flew over, including Austria and Germany, in which he extended similar wishes in English.
***
On the NET:
For live streaming, via Vatican YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/vatican
On ZENIT’s Web page:
Pope’s Program in Sweden: https://zenit.org/articles/program-of-popes-trip-to-sweden-for-commemoration-of-reformation-2/
