Pope's Prayers Over Duisburg Tragedy

(25 July 10 - RV) The Pope said today that his thoughts and prayers were with those who lost their lives at a music festival in Duisburg, Germany.
He was speaking during his Sunday Angelus in the Courtyard of the Papal Summer Residence in the Roman Hills. We have this report...



Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday expressed his deep sorrow over the deaths of young People in his native Germany who were attending an annual music festival.


The Holy Father spoke of the tragic loss of young lives and said he was praying for all those who were crushed during a panicked stampede at the Duisburg event on Saturday evening.


Hundreds of people were also injured in the crush in an overcrowded tunnel that served as the sole entrance to the festival and added he was also praying for them and for the families of all the victims at this time of great suffering.


The Pope was speaking on Sunday during his Angelus address at the Papal Summer Residence of Castelgandolfo were he also went on to stress the importance of Lord's Prayer.




In today’s Gospel Jesus teaches us the Lord’s Prayer. Following Christ’s own example, I encourage you to pray for the grace always to be worthy sons and daughters of our Father in heaven, and loving brothers and sisters to each other.
 
Pope Benedict also noted that we are facing the first words of Scripture that we learn as children words that are imprinted in our memory, that shape our lives, accompanying us to the last breath.

Being young the Pope added becomes the equivalent of following Christ.

Every time we recite the Our Father, our voice is intertwined with that of the Church and those who pray are never alone.

Finally, the Holy Father who is officially on his summer holidays reminded the estimated 3,000 pilgrims gathered that Sunday the 25 was the Feast Day of the Apostle James, Patron Saint of Compostela, who the Pope recounted left his father and his job as a fisherman to follow Jesus.


The Holy Father also dedicated a special thought to the pilgrims who have travelled in great numbers to Santiago de Compostela and said he hoped to join the faithful at this Spanish shrine as part of his a visit to Barcelona in November.