Pope concludes Czech visit

(Sept.29, 2009): Pope Benedict XVI on Monday, concluded his three-day visit to the Czech Republic, urging the people of the highly secular country to rediscover their faith and not to abandon God. In his farewell speech, the Pope entrusted the Czech Nation to the protection of the Infant Jesus of Prague. The Pope was seen off at Prague’s International Airport by Czech President Vaclav Klaus. Addressing the Pope in Italian, Klaus thanked the Pope for his visit and for bringing hope to the country. The presidential plane of the Czech Republic flew the Pope from Prague to Rome’s Ciampino Airport, from where, the Pope went directly to the nearby Papal summer residence at Castelgandolfo .
During his Sept. 26- 28 pastoral visit to the Czech Nation, the Pope celebrated two Masses, the one on his final day on Monday, was in honour of St. Wenceslas the Patron of the Czech Nation. The one earlier on Sunday in the southern city of Brno, attended by over 120 thousand people, was hailed as the most successful event in the country, where today, fewer than 3 million of the 10 and a half million population claim to be catholic.