Pope photographed for calendar to raise money for Rwandan children

Published: 2006-11-09

ROME (CNS) -- In Italy, where calendars usually feature scantily clad movie stars or action shots of sports heroes, Pope Benedict XVI agreed to be photographed for a calendar to raise money for Rwandan children. The calendar, to be released Nov. 23 by the Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana, features 14 photographs of Pope Benedict taken in August at the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo. The calendar will sell in Italy for 5 euros (US$6.40) with 1 euro (US$1.28) from each calendar going directly to Nazareth Town, a Catholic-run orphanage and hospital caring for more than 300 boys and girls in Mbare, Rwanda. A spokeswoman for Famiglia Cristiana said Nov. 9 there were no plans to publish the calendar outside Italy. Giancarlo Giuliani, who has been shooting popes for Famiglia Cristiana for 40 years, took the photographs.

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