POPE BENEDICT yesterday met Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin and members of the organising committee of the 50th Eucharistic Congress, which takes place in Dublin during June 2012.
The pope received the delegation in audience as well as participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses in the Sala Clementina of the Vatican Apostolic Palace.
Over recent days the Dublin delegation, led by Archbishop Martin, had been presenting their preliminary arrangements for the 2012 congress to 70 delegates nominated by Catholic bishops’ conferences from all five continents at meetings organised by the Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.
Pope Benedict expressed the hope that the preparations in Ireland for the Eucharistic Congress would help with the renewal of the Irish church.
“Your assembly has paid great attention to this event, which is also part of the modernisation programme of the church in Ireland. The theme recalls the centrality of the Eucharistic mystery for the growth of the life of faith and every authentic process of church renewal,” he said.
The pope also remarked that this week’s meeting in Rome fell on the 50th anniversary of the Eucharistic Congress at Munich in his native Bavaria and which, he said, marked a turning point in understanding such ecclesiastical events.
“I had the pleasure of attending that assembly in person, as a young professor of theology,” he said.
The pope said the 2012 congress in Ireland will have a jubilee character, as it will be the 50th congress and it will also be 50 years since the opening of the Second Vatican Council.
The 2012 Eucharistic Congress will be hosted by the archdiocese of Dublin on behalf of the whole Irish church. The theme of the congress is Communion with Christ and One Another. Planning and preparations are well under way throughout Ireland.
Further details at www.iec2012.ie