Pope reflects on Austrian trip, says church is called to be like Mary

Published: 2007-09-12

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- On the feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope Benedict XVI said the church is called to be like the mother of God and look to Christ. The church is called to pay witness to the sanctity of life and work toward a future of peace, he said. The pope used his general audience Sept. 12 to share reflections about his Sept. 7-9 visit to Austria. He returned briefly to the Vatican from his papal summer villa south of Rome to greet the estimated 12,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square and thank all those who made his apostolic pilgrimage a success. "It was a great joy for me to return as the successor of Peter" to Austria's Marian sanctuary at Mariazell, helping celebrate the shrine's 850th anniversary, the pope said. He said he was struck particularly by the "exemplary courage of thousands and thousands of pilgrims who, despite the rain and cold," turned out for the Sept. 8 Mass outside the shrine.

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