2013-04-10 17:31:38

Benedictine Monks at St. Paul's outside the walls look forward to welcoming the Pope


(Vatican Radio) On Sunday, April 14, Pope Francis will take possession of the Papal Basilica of St. Paul's outside the Walls in Rome.

The Pope will celebrate Mass at the Basilica together with the Benedictine Monks to whom the Basilica and the adjoining Monastery are entrusted.

Benedictine Abbott Edmund Power says the link between St. Ignatius - the founder of the Society of Jesus to which Pope Francis belongs - and the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls is a strong one.

Speaking to Vatican Radio's Linda Bordoni, Abbott Power says the affinities between Benedictines and Jesuits are in fact many...

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"I see the Jesuits as little brothers really..." in the sense that the Benedictines, maybe with a little bit of historical arrogance, remember that they have been around for 1500 years, whilst the Jesuits only 500... "they're much younger than we are!"

In fact, says Abbott Power, there is a connection between the Basilica itself and the Jesuits. "It was in the 1530s that Ignatius of Loyola who was making his pilgrimage around the 7 churches of Rome, stopped here because St. Paul's is one of the seven, and he made his religious profession in the Basilica in front of a mosaic icon of the Blessed Virgin which is still preserved in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, and it is know with the Jesuit name: Regina Societatis - the Queen of the Society of Jesus.

"So we feel we gave hospitality to Ignatius in that important moment of his journey".

And the Abbott says that having a Pope who is a religious, who lives the consecrated life, which is a sign of the fullness of the Kingdom - a great charism, a prophetic charism within the Church. We've not had a religious as Pope since Gregory XVI in the first half of the 19th century and he was a Benedictine Camaldolese Monk - since then there has been no religious until now..

And so - says Abbott Power - "It is a great honour for us and I am sure all people who live the consecrated life welcome the fact that we have a religious as Bishop of Rome."








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