Benedict XVI will spend next week in prayer as he does his annual Lenten spiritual exercises, this year focused on John Paul II and the theology of the saints. Discalced Carmelite Father François-Marie Léthel will preach the March 13-19 retreat. Father Léthel is a professor at the Pontifical Theological Faculty (Teresianum), and prelate-secretary of the Pontifical Academy of Theology.
The exercises will begin at 6 p.m. in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel of the Apostolic Palace, with vespers, the introductory meditation, Eucharistic adoration and benediction.
The Holy Father and the Curia will join together for the Divine Office each day of the retreat, and hear three mediations. On the last day, which coincides with the Solemnity of St. Joseph, lauds will be celebrated at 9 a.m., followed by the closing meditation.
All papal audiences are suspended during the Pope’s retreat, including the general audience of March 16.
PONTIFF TO ANSWER ON TV QUESTIONS ABOUT JESUS
On Good Friday, Benedict XVI will appear on a television program of the Italian channel RAI to answer three questions about Jesus. The feature with the Pope will appear April 22 on the Italian-language program “A Sua Immagine” [In His Image]. It will be recorded a few days before the broadcast. The public is invited to submit questions, which may be chosen for the interview, through RAI’s Web site.
In an interview on Vatican Radio, the television program presenter, Rosario Carello, explained that the initiative was born from the appreciation that Good Friday is a particular day.
“Up to a few years ago,” he noted, “television was also aware of this difference and aired programs that induced at least to reflection. This sentiment has been lost,” commented Carello, and “today television on Good Friday is a day like all the rest for all channels: There are even fights and gossip.” For this reason, he explained that his program seeks to “recover the historical program, ‘Domande su Gesu’ [Questions on Jesus], to again place at the center Jesus’ case on the afternoon of that day, at the same hour of the death of Jesus.”
Carello recalled: “The idea was: There are many questions on Jesus that come from the television spectators, who find in the studio interlocutors to answer, but it would be extraordinary if it were the Pope himself, who is so attentive to listening and to dialogue, who responded. “How lovely it would be if the public could ask questions and the Pope would be the one who responds. We thought we were mad even to think about it,” he added, “but we saw in Pope Benedict’s style something that induced us at least to suggest the idea: We suggested it and behold, the Pope accepted.”
ROME, MARCH 9, 2011 (Zenit.org)