Still Running Off at the Keyboard

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 14 - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday blessed a statue of the founder of Opus Dei, highlighting the conservative Catholic movement's ever higher standing in the contemporary Church .

The five-metre likeness of Saint Josémaria Escriva, made of white Carrara marble, stands in its own niche on the southern outside wall of St Peter's Basilica. It was the first new statue at the basilica to be blessed by Benedict XVI. The unveiling ceremony, accompanied by the chanting of an 80-strong choir, took place after the general audience and attracted a crowd of devotees, officials and onlookers .

The statue bears the coats of arms of both Benedict and his predecessor John Paul II, so as to indicate the popes under which the figure was begun and finished .

Alongside it are other great saints and founders of religious orders, such as Saint Gregory, founder of the Armenian church, Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Brigid of Sweden .

The papal blessing set the seal on the Catholic Church's full acceptance of the movement which it had initially distrusted.

Continue reading...