Pope gives praise at Pompeii shrine

POPE Benedict XVI travelled to a shrine near the ruins of ancient Pompeii and prayed for all people in pain or difficulty, saying faith can promote personal and social recovery.

The Pope celebrated an open-air Mass in front of the 19th century shrine to the cheers of tens of thousands of faithful.

“How can we forget, in this moment, the people who suffer, the sick, the elderly who are alone, the youths in difficulty, the inmates, those who are in poverty and in social and economic distress?” said Benedict during his homily.

“To each of you I want to ensure my spiritual closeness.”

The Pope praised the shrine, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the rosary, and its founder as a beacon of hope and faith.

The town was reborn around the sanctuary, he said, showing how God transforms the world by filling the heart of man with charity and turning it into an engine for religious and social renewal.

The remark resonated in a region that is marked by organised crime, poverty and high unemployment rates. The Pope called Pompeii the “citadel of Mary and hope”.

The shrine draws some four million faithful each year to Pompeii, a small town flanking the sprawling ruins of the city that was buried in the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD.

Benedict arrived earlier yesterday by helicopter from the Vatican.