Pope watches film on his pontificate

(July 30, 2010) Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday evening took a short break from his vacation of study, prayer and rest at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo to watch a film dedicated to his 5-year old pontificate. Produced by German public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk, the film entitled "Five Years: Pope Benedict XVI" showed important moments from the Pope’s pontificate, beginning with his election in April 2005. At the end of the screening, the Holy father thanked the German broadcaster for “this extraordinary spiritual journey” that allowed him to relive and look back on the important culminating moments of the past five years of his Petrine ministry and of the very life of the Church. “Personally I was very moved to see a few moments, above all when the Lord bestowed on my shoulders the Petrine ministry, a burden that no one can bear on his own merely on his strength, but can carry it only because the Lord bears it and bears me,” the Pope said. Pope Benedict also appreciated the richness of the life of the Church in the variety of cultures, charisms and gifts that express the unity of the Church amidst great multiplicity and diversity. “To express this unity of the Church, to realize it and render it visible has been the mandate of the primacy of Peter in the past, the present and for ever,” the Pope said.
Besides the weekly ‘Angelus’ prayer every Sunday at noon, the only other time the Pope has been seen in the media since the last general audience of Wednesday, July 7 was through a video released last week in which he was seen writing, praying the Rosary and feeding goldfish in a garden pool. Pope Benedict is scheduled to resumes his weekly general audience next Wednesday.