Holy See releases schedule of
Pope’s June Geneva trip
Pope Francis and World Council Churches General Secretary, Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit |
A programme for Pope Francis day trip to the Swiss city of
Geneva has been released by the Holy See.
By Richard Marsden
Details have been released today by the Vatican for Pope
Francis’ “ecumenical pilgrimage” to Geneva to mark the 70th anniversary of the
World Council of Churches (WCC).
The programme for the day visit to the city on Thursday, 21
June includes a meeting with representatives from various denominations at
Geneva’s Ecumenical Centre followed by Mass at a convention centre to the north
of the city.
Pope Francis will be the first pontiff to visit Geneva since
Saint John Paul II, who stopped there in 2004 as part of a six-day pastoral
visit to Switzerland.
Holy See is an observer of the WCC
The Pope will pray and dialogue with members of the World
Council of Churches who come from 110 countries and represent more than 500
million Christians including Orthodox, Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans and
Methodists. The Holy See is not a member of the WCC but is an observer of
the body and often sends a representative to its meetings, which aim to foster
unity between Christians of different denominations.
Meetings, prayer, and lunch
After a welcome ceremony at Geneva’s international airport
on the morning of June 21, Pope Francis will hold a private meeting with the
President of the Swiss Confederation, who is currently Alain Berset.
The Pope will then travel to the World Council of Church’s
centre to take part in an Ecumenical Prayer gathering at which he will give a
homily. Afterwards, he is set to enjoy lunch with the leadership of the
organisation at the Ecumenical Institute at Château de Bossey, some 25 km
outside of the city, before returning to Geneva to give a discourse as part of
an Ecumenical meeting.
First papal Mass in Switzerland for 14 years
Concluding the visit in the early evening, the Pope will
celebrate Mass at the large Palexpo convention centre close to the city’s
airport from which he will return to Rome at 8pm.
More than 70,000 people came to the last papal Mass presided
over by Saint John Paul II 14 years ago and officials at Palexpo say that their
venue could hold even more people.
Around 38 per cent of the Swiss population identifies itself
as Roman Catholic, with a further 27 per cent of citizens belonging to
Protestant churches.
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