Pope Benedict: "I'm beginning to learn my job."


Pope Benedict XVI walks on a path the last day of his summer retreat at Les Combes in the northern mountains of Italy July 28. Pope Benedict arrived at his summer villa in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, July 28 after an 18-day vacation in the Alps. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano)

Meeting with reporters outside the chalet, Pope Benedict said, "We should not be silent; we should do everything possible to get our message to the powerful."

"Our primary instrument is prayer," he said. "Naturally, it is a cry not only to God, but also to men."

He also told reporters that following events in the Middle East, joining several Alpine communities for prayers for peace, reading, and working on speeches and a book did not take away from his vacation. However, he said, "as a vacation" his July 11-28 stay in Les Combes "was too brief. Now work begins again, but slowly."

A reporter also asked him how things were going after more than a year as pope; he smiled and replied, "I'm beginning to learn my job."

Pope Benedict is expected to stay at Castel Gandolfo until late September.

Via CNS.

What a humble, holy and hard-working Papa we have! Let us pray with him for peace and for him for strength and guidance in his work.
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