Pope meets with heads of curial departments to discuss trip to Brazil

Published: 2007-04-16

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI met with the heads of departments of the Roman Curia to discuss his upcoming trip to Latin America. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, told reporters that the encounter April 14 focused exclusively on the pope's May 9-13 visit to Brazil. No other details of the meeting were made public by the Vatican. The main purpose of the visit, his first papal trip to the Western Hemisphere, is to inaugurate the fifth general assembly of Latin American and Caribbean bishops at the Marian sanctuary of Aparecida May 13. The pope also will preside over events in Sao Paulo and visit a "farm of hope" for former drug addicts during his stay. The pope has previously called meetings of the heads of Vatican congregations and pontifical councils to discuss diverse topics, including priestly celibacy, efforts to reconcile with traditionalist groups and rules regulating use of the Tridentine rite of the Mass.

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