(March 14, 2011) Pope Benedict XVI is on his annual Lenten retreat this week for
which he has urged prayers from the faithful. Speaking during his weekly midday Sunday
‘Angelus’ prayer, he urged that he and his collaborators of the Roman Curia be especially
remembered in prayers as they begin their week of Spiritual Exercises Sunday evening.
The spiritual retreat ends on Saturday morning. Hence during this week all his appointments
are suspended, including Wednesday’s general audience. The meditations of the spiritual
retreat will be on the theme: The light of Christ in the heart of the Church - John
Paul II and the Theology of the Saints, and will be preached by Father François-Marie
Léthel of the Discalced Carmelites, a Theology professor at the Pontifical Teresianum
and secretary of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Theology. The theme was chosen
in view of Pope John Paul II’s beatification on May 1.