Torch of St. Benedict

This week the city of London hosted the lighting of the Torch of St. Benedict, viewed as a symbol of peace, hope and unity. The torch is the main feature of an annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of St. Benedict in Monte Cassino in southern Italy and it's the first time it has visited a city in the UK. It was lit during an ecumenical celebration at Westminster Abbey on Wednesday and on Thursday went to Westminster Cathedral for a mass celebrated by Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster who told Susy Hodges more about the significance of this event:
Asked about the Torch's symbolism, Archbishop Nichols says its "message of peace is very important and in my own reflection I add another one and it's this: that the hand which holds the torch of peace is often a hand of religious belief and therefore religious freedom in Europe is increasingly important if we are to pursue successfully a pathway of peace."
Archbishop Nichols goes on to speak about the relevance of St. Benedict's qualities in modern life and says he appeals to us as a person for a variety of reasons: "firstly as a man of prayer, secondly as a man who manages to integrate a busy life with a prayerful life and thirdly as one who in his rule of life explores something that we in modern Britain find quite elusive which is how to live together peacefully in community..."
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