Pope baptizes infants, calls sacrament invitation to human freedom

Published: 2007-01-08

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI closed out the Christmas season at the Vatican with an annual Mass to baptize infants and kept up a tradition of his own -- an extemporaneous sermon on the meaning of the sacrament. Baptism is not some "magical" rite of words and water, but a lasting invitation to human freedom to cooperate with the Holy Spirit, the pope said Jan. 7, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. As the cries of babies echoed through the Sistine Chapel, the pope poured water from a gilded scoop onto the heads of 13 infants and pronounced the words welcoming them into the church. Most were children of Vatican employees. He held a prepared text in his hand as he gave his homily, but referred to it only sporadically, preferring to ad lib as he did the year before. One by one, he explained the symbols of the sacrament, then spoke about its central meaning.

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