In his greetings to pilgrims from various countries the Pope remembered, among the Arab speakers, the restorers of the Basilica of the Nativity in Jerusalem, accompanied by the vicar general of the Holy Land, Rev. Dobromir Jasztal.

Among the Portuguese speakers, he mentioned the Cabanelas e Cervães group from São Paulo and the members of the Shalom community. He also greeted Hungarian pilgrims from Budapest, Lövete and Brasov, of the archdiocese of Alba-Iulia, in Rome for the diaconal ordination of the alumni of the Pontifical German and Hungarian College.

In Italian, he welcomed the organisers and participants in the “Match for peace and solidarity”, to take place this evening in Rome’s Olympic Stadium, promoted by Scholas Occurrentes, the Love and Liberty Community, the Italian Sport Centre and Unitalsi.

Finally, as is customary, he addressed the young, the sick and newly-weds. “Yesterday we celebrated the memory of St. John XXIII. Invoke his heavenly intercession, dear young people, to imitate the gentleness of his paternal love; pray to him in moments of the cross and in suffering, dear infirm, to face difficulties with the same meekness; and learn from him, dear newly-weds, the art of educating children with tenderness and by example”.