Last Updated: Friday - 09/24/2010
Week of May 5, 2008
Benedict to deliver satellite homily in Quebec
By ART BABYCH
Catholic News Service
Quebec City
Pope Benedict will give the homily via satellite transmission from Rome at the closing Mass of the 49th International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City.
Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec, president of the planning committee for the congress, made the announcement at a news conference April 24 in Quebec.
Speaking in French, Ouellet invited everyone to attend the outdoor Mass, which will be held on the historic Plains of Abraham, the site of a decisive battle in 1759 that led to the fall of Quebec.
Congress organizers hope that up to 50,000 people will attend the June 22 Mass in which the pope's homily will be transmitted in real time to giant screens.
Officials also announced that the location for the closing Mass, known as the Statio Orbis, had been moved from the originally selected site near the Quebec Citadel, a military fortification built in the early 1800s.
Instead, it will be held farther west on the battlefield in an area where the first national eucharistic congress was held 70 years ago.
The Vatican announced in mid-April that Slovakian Cardinal Josef Tomko will be the pope's representative at the gathering.
The June 15-22 International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec coincides with the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City. Nearly 10,000 people have registered so far.
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