Pope names envoys to celebrations closing Pauline year

(June 23, 2009): Pope Benedict XVI will preside over the closing of the year of St. Paul with on Sunday with an evening prayer service at Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls built over the saint's tomb. The Pontiff has named seven cardinals to preside over events closing in countries where the apostle lived and preached. He has appointed Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, to lead a Vatican delegation closing the year-long commemoration in Israel. In a letter to Cardinal Kasper released June 20, Pope Benedict said the life and writings of St. Paul call Christians today to undergo "a true conversion and begin a new spiritual journey." The Pope asked Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, to travel to Tarsus, Turkey, where St. Paul was born.
Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela of Madrid, Spain, will lead the papal delegation to celebrations in Damascus, Syria, the city the apostle was travelling to when he was converted. Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, will participate in events in Malta, where St. Paul was shipwrecked on his way to Rome. Cardinal Jozef Tomko, former prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, will visit the sites of the major communities in Greece founded by St. Paul, namely, Corinth, Philippi and Thessalonica, as well as Athens. St. Paul also lived and preached in Cyprus, where Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, will travel; and in Lebanon, which will be visited by Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois of Paris.