Post intelligent and civil comments. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the NLM
So THAT'S what it was! I was in the piazza San Pietro yesterday afternoon and it was filled with cars. I asked the Carabinieri what it was and he said a concert for the pope...
Still, the cars filling the piazza looked rather like those 19th C photographs you see of carriages drawn up in neat rows waiting for the Sunday Angelus and blessing!
see here.
this translates the holy father-s speech
I am happy, at the end of this splendid concert, to extend a joyful greeting to all of you who having taken part here: civil and military authorities, illustrious personalities, and friends who have come to share this moment of high cultural value. Above all I wish to manifest my vivid thanks to the President of the Italian Republic, the Honorable Giorgio Napolitano, who on the occasion of the third anniversary of my Pontificate has desired to offer me this gift together with fine expressions of couresty which I very much appreciate. Thank you, Mr President, for this deferent and thoughtful act, with which I am very much satisfied! In this I can also see yet another sign of the great affection of the Italian people for the Pope. I extent my greetings to you and to your collaborators.
Echoing, certainly, the sentiments of all here present, I offer a sincere congratulations to to the Milan Sinphonic Choir ''Giuseppe Verdi'', which, guided well by Director Oleg Caetani, has played and sung with extraordinary talent and efficacy. I likewise offer my appreciation to the Choir Master, Mr Enrina Gambarini. I offer a cordial word of gratitude to the directors of the deserving ''Giuseppi Verde'' Foundation, and encourage them to continue to pursue the prestigious artistic and cultural endeavour which they have undertaken, which I know to be confirmed by the commitment to bring music where it alleviates situations of human difficulty, places like hospitals and prisons. My gratitude also goes out to all those who have contirbuted to the organisatio and realisation of this evocative event, supporting in in various way.
We have had the joy of listening with attentive participation to difficult concert pieces of Luciano Berio, Johannes Brahms and Ludwig Beethoven. I am happy to underline how the music of Brahms has enriched with religious trust Holderlin's ''Song of Destiny''. This leads us to consider the spiritual value of the musical arts, called in a unique way to fill the soul of man with hope, so marked and often wounded by his earthly condition. There is a mysterious and profound link between music and hope, between song and life eternal: it is not for nothing that the Christian tradition portrays the spirits of the blessed in the act of singing in choir, taken up in ecstasy by the beauty of God. But authentic art, like prayer, does not alienate us from the reality of every day, but rather directs us back to it to ''irrigate'' and make it to blossom so that it may give place to the fruits of goodness and peace.
The magisterial interpretations that we have listened to remind us as well of the value and universal importance of artistic patrimony: I am thinking especially of the younger generations who in their exposure to such patrimony may be ever again inspired to build a world according to the designs of justice and solidarity at the service of man, valuing the diverse expressions of world culture. I am thinking also of the importance of an education to authentic beauty for the formation of the youth. As a whole, art contibutes to the sharpening and orienting of the spirit towards the edification of a society open to te ideals of the spirit. Italy, with its exceptional artistic heritage, can undertaken in this regard an important role in the world: the quantity and quality of the monuments and works of art which she possesses make her a universal ''messenger'' of all of those values which art expresses and at the same time promotes. The joyfulness of song and of music are likewise a constant invitation for believers and for men of goodwill to commit themselves to giving humanity a rich future of hope.
Mr President of the Republic, thank you once again for the stupendous gift that you have wished to offer to me and for the sentiments that have accompanied it. In exchange I promise to remember you in prayer that the Lord may protect you, your wife, the authorites and all of the people of Italy. With these wishes, that I entrust to the intercession of the Madonna of Good Counsel, I invoke the blessing of God upon all here present and on their families. Thank you and good night to all!
Ahhh...Shicksalslied!
"We have had the joy of listening with attentive participation to difficult concert pieces"
Hmmmm.....
(Save the Liturgy, Save the World)
DC, thank you for the translation.
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