LAMEZIA TERME, Italy, OCT. 9, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today before and after praying the midday Angelus after celebrating Mass in an industrial site in Lamezia Terme, during his pastoral visit to the Italian city.
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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
As we come to the end of our celebration, we turn with filial devotion to the Virgin Mary, whom this month of October we venerate in particular with the title Queen of the Holy Rosary.
I know that there are many Marian shrines present in this land of yours, and I am happy to learn that here in Calabria popular piety is alive. I encourage you to practice it constantly in the light of the teachings of Vatican Council II, of the Apostolic See, and of your pastors. I entrust your diocesan community affectionately to Mary, so that it will be united in faith, hope and charity. May the Mother of the Church help you to have always in your heart ecclesial communion and missionary commitment. May she support the priests in their ministry, help parents and teachers in their educational task, console the sick and the suffering, preserve in young people a pure and generous soul.
Let us also invoke Mary’s intercession for the most serious social problems of this territory and of the whole of Calabria, especially those of work, of youth, of the care of handicapped people, who require increasing attention on the part of everyone, in particular of the institutions.
In communion with your bishops, I exhort you in particular, lay faithful, not to hold back the contribution of your competence and responsibility in the building of the common good.
As you know, this afternoon I will go to Serra San Bruno to visit the Carthusian Order. St. Bruno came to this land nine centuries ago, and he left a profound sign, with the strength of his faith. The faith of the saints renews the world! With the same faith, you too renew today your beloved Calabria!
[Translation by ZENIT]
