Pope kicks off Christmas with evening Mass

THURSDAY, 24 MAY 2012

02:30 PM Beirut time

Weather

Beirut

24 °C

Blom Index


1,164.8

Follow @DailyStarLeb

Advanced Search

International

Pope kicks off Christmas with evening Mass

December 24, 2011 05:18 PM

By Nichole Whinfield

Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives for the Immaculate Conception celebration prayer in Piazza di Spagna (Spain's Square) in downtown Rome December 8, 2011. Reuters

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI kicks off a busy two weeks of Christmas celebrations with an evening Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

Midnight Mass was moved up to 10 p.m. a few years ago to spare the 84-year-old pontiff such a late night.

Benedict will celebrate the Mass, and then after a few hours rest will deliver his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" speech - Latin for "to the city and the world," where Benedict usually reflects on the hardships facing the world, and ends with Christmas greetings delivered in dozens of languages.

Next weekend, Benedict will preside over a New Year's Eve vespers service and New Year's Day Mass, followed by an Epiphany Mass on Jan. 6 and his traditional baptizing of babies in the Sistine Chapel two days later.

Home

International

Comments

Your feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us their views and comments about this article.

Disclaimer: Comments submitted by third parties on this site are the sole responsibility of the individual(s) whose content is submitted. The Daily Star accepts no responsibility for the content of comment(s), including, without limitation, any error, omission or inaccuracy therein. Please note that your email address will NOT appear on the site. All fields are mandatory.

Name	*
Email	*
Country	*
City	*
Comment	* Word Count: Left:
	Alert me of future comments

Toolbox


	Related

Pope Benedict XVI decries Mexico violence

Vatican: Pope’s Cuba trip should help democracy

Most Popular

Viewed

Searched

e-mailed

1.	Assad’s forces push to capture rebel hotbed

2.	President to seek Gulf support for Lebanon, dialogue

3.	Man United set to place offer for Lewandowski

4.	Fitch: Lebanon rating can absorb sporadic clashes

5.	3 people wounded in Lebanon shooting incident

6.	Somali, AU forces push toward Islamist positions

Stay Connected

Multimedia

Images

Video

Egypt's presidential elections

Egyptians cast their ballots Wednesday in the first free presidential election in the country's history. The winner will replace longtime authoritarian President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in an 18-day uprising last year.

View all