Catholic World News News Feature

Pope to visit Montecassino on Sunday May 22, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI will visit the historic Benedictine abbey at Montecassino on Sunday, May 24, during a pastoral visit to the region.

The Pope will travel to Cassino on Sunday morning, making the 80-mile trip by helicopter. Arriving at a soccer field in Cassino, he will celebrate Mass there on Sunday morning, and then continue by car to the spot where St. Benedict founded his first community in 529.

After lunch at the abbey, the Holy Father will preside at a Vespers service with the Benedictine monk and nuns of the region, and give a homily. He will return by helicopter to the Vatican Sunday evening.

The abbey at Montecassino, which has been destroyed and rebuilt many times over the centuries, was nearly leveled by Allied bombers during World War II. Fortunately sympathetic German Catholic officers had arranged for the contents of the abbey's library to be transferred to the Vatican for safekeeping.